PR 

3560 





PA 
LOST 



MILTON 



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(6, i, 1906—2,000. ) Jll» •• 




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Book 



PARADISE LOST 



BOOKS I. and IL 



BY 



JOHN MILTON. 



With Introduction and Notes. 



EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

B( >STON 

New York Chicago San Francisco 









LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

APR 5 1906 

Copyright Entry 

CLASS XXC No. 

COPY B. 



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Copyrighted 

By EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

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7*Je'07 



INTRODUCTION. 

Milton, the author of Paradise Lost, was born in 
London, England, on the 9th of December, 1608. 
His education was carried on at home by various 
masters, and by his father, who taught him to sing 
and to play the organ, and implanted in him his 
own love of music. Although his home was a 
cheerful and happy place, he seems to have been 
an unusually quiet, serious child, and prematurely 
studious, if we may judge from some lines placed 
by the engraver under a portrait of him, made when 
he was ten years old : 

" When I was yet a child, no childish play 
To me was pleasing; all my mind was set 
Serious to learn and know, and thence to do 
What might be public good; myself I thought 
Born to that end, born to promote all truth, 
All righteous things." (Paradise Regained. ) 

At twelve he was sent to St. Paul's School, quite 
near his home in the city of London, and he still 
had tutors at home. He now worked very hard in- 
deed for several years ; no trouble or expense was 
grudged by his parents ; for they were very proud 
of him, and had formed the highest hopes as to his 
future. "My father," Milton says, "destined me, 
while yet a little boy, for the study of humane let- 
ters, which I seized with such eagerness that from 
the twelfth year of my age I scarce ever went from 
my lessons to bed before midnight, which indeed 
was the first cause of injury to my eyes, to whose 
natural weakness there were also added frequent 
headaches." In 1625, when in his seventeenth 



il INTRODUCTION. 

year, he entered Christ's College, Cambridge, and 
remained there until he was twenty-three. 

Here came a break in his education, and with it 
the question, What was he going to do in life ? His 
parents had destined him for the church ; but the 
system of government by bishops and the tyranny 
of Laud deterred him from entering the ministry. 
His father seems to have left him free to choose a 
calling for himself, and so we find him, about the 
time of his leaving college, finally determined to fit 
himself, by continued labor and study, and by a 
strictly pure and blameless life, to achieve some 
great work as a poet. Accordingly he now settled 
at Horton, a quiet hamlet in Buckinghamshire, 
within a short distance of Windsor and the Thames 
in the house of his father, who had retired thither 
to spend his old age. 

Of the poems which he had already written the 
chief was The Nativity Hymn, begun on Christmas 
Day, 1629. Kis sonnet On Arriving at his 23rd 
Year is of special interest at this point : 

" How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, 

Stolen on his wing my three-and-twentieth year ! 

My hasting days fly on with full career, 
But my late Spring no bud or blossom shew'th. 
Perhaps my semblance might deceive the truth 

That I to manhood am arrived so near; 

And inward ripeness doth much less appear, 
Than some more timely-happy spirits endu'th. 

Yet, be it less or more, or soon or slow, 
It shall be still in strictest measure even 

To that same lot, however mean or high, 
Toward which Time leads me, and the will of Heaven; 

All is, if I have grace to use it so, 

As ever in my great Task-Master's eye." 

He seems to have devoted himself to an extensive 
course of "select reading," especially to a revision 



INTRODUCTION. Ill 

of classical and Italian literature, storing his mind 
with all that was best worth appropriating, and be- 
coming almost as familiar with Latin, Greek, and 
Italian as with his native tongue. He did not write 
more than five English poems of any great length 
during this period — L Allegro, II Eenseroso, Ar- 
cades, Comus, and Lycidas — but they are amongst 
the very best in the language : and yet, in the last 
and the best of them, he is still dissatisfied with his 
powers. In the spring of 1637 he had lost his 
mother; next spring he started off to see Italy and 
Greece, which for him would be exceptionally in- 
teresting. But the tyranny of King Charles had at 
last provoked his subjects in Scotland to rebellion. 
On hearing of this, Milton at once resolved to 
to return and take his part with his countrymen 
in the impending contest. In 1639 he was back. 
He took a house in London, and settled there 
for the rest of his life. 

So far Milton's life had been one of quiet, se- 
cluded study. For the next twenty years poetry 
was banished, study and self-preparation were all 
but given up, and he was to be found in the very 
thick of the controversies of the day, — writing 
against Episcopacy, defending the Execution of 
Charles (in two books — the First and the Second 
Defence), and exposing the notorious Eikon Basi- 
like. He had, on settling in London, begun to 
take a few pupils : this led him to write an essay on 
Education. But his only great and enduring work 
in prose was his Areopagitica, a plea for freedom of 
opinion, and for freedom to express that opinion 
by means of the printing-press, without the pre- 
vious sanction of the Government Licenser. His 
activity in the Parliamentary cause had led to his 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

being appointed, in 1649, Latin Secretary to the 
Committee of Foreign Affairs, a post for which his 
knowledge of foreign languages specially qualified 
h m. It was during his tenure of this office that 
he deliberately hastened his blindness, which had 
been coming on for some years, over the writing 
of the First Defence, mentioned above. 

It is evident that this must have been, in his 
case, a terrible calamity, for he had not yet even 
begun his great poem. The truly admirable way 
in which he bore it is shown by the courage and 
patience which characterized his subsequent life, 
and by the various references to it which we find in 
his writings. 

But there \ ere other misfortunes in store for 
him : in 1660 the Parliamentary cause failed com- 
pletely — for the time; Milton was imprisoned, 
some of his prose writings were burnt by the hang- 
man, and he lost most of his savings. He had in- 
deed "fallen on evil days," and yet he bravely 
took up and carried to completion the great work 
of his life — his epic poem, Paradise Lost. He 
had begun it before the Restoration, probably in 
1658; he finished it about 1663, spent two years 
or so on its revision, and published it in 1667. 
Meanwhile he had commenced its sequel, Paradise 
Regained; then he wrote Samson Agonistes, a 
dramatic poem, and several prose works. 

His latter years were greatly cheered and bright- 
ened by the fame which Paradise Lost brought him, 
and by the frank recognition of his pre -eminence 
by all pirties. He died in London in 1674, and 
was buried in the church at St, Giles, Cripplegate. 

Three qualities stand out conspicuously in Mil- 
ton's character. First, his deep sense of duty. He 



INTRODUCTION. V 

seems never to falter in his entire devotion to that 
which he believes he ought to do at any particular 
juncture. Two striking instances of this are, the 
return from Italy in 1639, and the employment of 
his failing eyesight in writing the Defence. Second, 
the sincerity and the earnestness of his religious 
and political convictions. Third, his magnanimity 
and patience. Twenty years spent in a cause that, 
for the time, failed; loss of eyesight; loss of sav- 
ings; loss of friends ; the restoration of a dissolute 
monarch ; all this produced neither bitterness nor 
murmur. " Who best bear His mild yoke, they 
serve Him best." So he wrote and so he lived. 
Truly, as Macaulay says, he was weighed in the 
balance and not found wanting. 

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



LITERARY. 




GENERAL. 




Sp r .ser born 


!55 2 










The Marian Persecution, 


1555 


Bacon born 


1561 






Shakespeare born . . . 


1564 






Galileo born , 


" 


Massacre of St. Bartho- 








lomew 


1572 


Jonson born 


• J 574 






The Faerie Queen pub- 




The Armada 


1588 


lished . . . 


1590-6 


Battle of Ivry 


I590 


Shakespeare's earlier 








plays acted . . . . , 


• 1597 






Bacon's Essays pub- 








lished , 


. 1598 


Edict of Nantes . . . 


1598 






Gunpowder Plot . . . 


1605 


Milton born . . . . 


. 1608 


Clarendon born . . . 


1608 


The Bible translated . , 


. 1611 






Shakespeare dies . . 


.1616 






Milton goes to Cam- 




Thirty Years' War begun, 


1618 


bridge 


• I02 5 


The Mayflower sails, 


1620 



VI INTRODUCTION. 




Chronological Table. — Continued. 




Bunyan bora 


1628 


Laud, Bp. of London, 


1628 


Dryden born 


1631 






Milton leaves Cam- 








bridge and retires to 








Horton 


1632 






L? Allegro, II Penseroso, 








LyciJas, etc. . . I 


133-7 






Milton goes abroad, 


1638 


The Covenant signed, 


1638 


Milton settles in Lon- 








don 


1639 


First Bishops' War . . 


. 1639 


Newton born 


1642 


Civil War begun . . 


. 1642 


Areopagitica 


1644 






Eikonoklastes , . ... 


1649 


Charles I. executed . . 


. 1649 


First Defence 


1651 






Milton becomes blind, 


1652 


Cromwell Protector . . 


• 1653 


Paradise Lost begun 




Cromwell dies . . 


. 1658 


about ... ... 


1658 


The Restoration . . 


. 1600 






The Plague 


. 1665 






Clarendon's fall . . 


. 1667 


Paradise Lost published, 


1667 


France and England 




Paradise Regained . . . 


1671 


attack Holland . . 


. 1672 


Sams n Ag^nistes . . . 


1671 






Milton dies 


1674 


Clarendon dies . . 


. 1674 



INTRODUCTION. 

The subject of Paradise Lost as given in Book I. 
is the temptation and fall of man, that is, his dete- 
rioration from the state of perfect goodness and 
happiness, in which he was supposed to have been 
created, to one made up of good and evil, of happi- 
ness and unhappiness ; this "fall " being symbolized 
by the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise 
or Eden. This is the central fact of the story ; to 
it all the rest (Books I.-VIII.) is preparatory, and 
with it the story ends. But the preparatory events 
are so stupendous in their magnitude, so striking in 
their character, and described in such impressive 
language — forming, as they do, the best part of the 
poem — that they tend to overshadow the doings in 
the Garden ; and so we come to look upon Para Use. 
Lost as dealing rather with a series of connected 
events, of which the " fall " is the first in importance 
but not in interest. We may, therefore, regard 
Paradise Lost as dealing with the whole universe, 
in its widest possible aspect ; with the origin of its 
various parts, and their significance for man. 

Analysis of the Poem. 

(A) The Fall : why and how it was brought 
about. I.-VIII. 

(B) Its results. IX.-XII. 

(C) Man's relation to the Universe and to God. 

Part of V. 
(The third point, though not prominent, is very 
important in the scheme of the poem.) 

v 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

(A) The Fall: why and how it was b?-onght about: 
(i) Heaven ; the War : 

{a) Its Cause, the refusal of Satan and his 
followers to acknowledge the Son as 
their head. V. 

(b) The War, the expulsion of the rebels. VI. 

(2) The Creation of the World and of Man. 

(3) Hell: [VII., VIII. 

(a) The rebels closed in and stunned by 
their fall ; Satan rallies his followers. I. 

(b) The leaders in Council ; Satan un- "} 
dertakes to try to ruin Man. I TT 

(V) Hell and Chaos described. [ 

(d) Satan's journey through Chaos. J 

(4) The World ; Eden : 

(a) Satan explores the World. III. 

(b) Adam and Eve in Eden ; Satan's plot- 
tings ; Raphael's warnings. IV. and V. 

(c) The Fall effected. IX. 

(B) The Results of the Fall: 

(1) Punishment pronounced on Tempter and 
Tempted by the Son. X. 

(2) Sin and Death take possession of the 
World, but their overthrow by the Son 
(/. e. the Redemption) is foretold. X- 

(3) Michael reveals the future to Adam, reas- 
sures him of Redemption, and leads him 
and Eve out of Paradise. XL and XII. 

(C) Man' s Relations to the Universe and to God, 
as set forth by Raphael in Book V. 469-543, may 
be summed up briefly thus : — 

"One Almighty is"; rJl things are created by 
Him, from "one first matter all"; all things are 
perfect in their various degrees, but are more re- 
fined and spiritual in proportion as they are near 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

Him. In nature " the grosser feeds the purer," the 
soil is transformed, through the plant, into flower 
and fruit ; the latter, used as man's nourishment, is 
" sublimed " into the living force which sustains the 
mind and the soul : thus there is complete contin- 
uity from the lowest forms (/. e. mere matter) to 
the highest (/. e. pure spirit) ; and " all things 
. . . up to Him return, if not depraved from 
good." Raphael concludes : 

" Time may come when men 
With Angels may participate, and rind 
No inconvenient diet, nor too light fare ; 
And from these corporal nutriments, perhaps, 
Your bodies may at last turn all to spirit, 
Improved by tract of time, and winged ascend 
Ethereal, as we ; or may at choice 
Here or in heavenly Paradise dwell, 
If ye be found obedient." 

With this compare VII. 115, where the Almighty 
states His purpose in creating Man, viz. to replenish 
Heaven, lest Satan should boast of the damage 
inflicted : He will, He says, create 

" Of one man a race 
Of men innumerable, there to dwell, 
Not here, till, by degrees of merit raised, 
They open to themselves at length the way, 
Up hither, under long obedience tried," etc. 

In this analysis the topics are arranged in chron- 
ological order. The order in the poem, as the 
references show, is very different, and it may be 
helpful to indicate it. 

(1) Milton plunges into the very midst of the 
whole subject by depicting the rebels lying stunned 
on the lake after their fall : they are roused by Satan, a 
council is held, Man's ruin resolved on, and intrusted 
to Satan. Hell and Chaos are described. I., II. 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

(2) Satan traverses Chaos, and explores the 
World, finds Eden, and plots the Fall. II.-IV. 

(3) Raphael now visits Adam and Eve. He 
describes their position in the universe, and warns 
them of their danger. In order to explain Satan's 
attitude, and to gratify Adam's curiosity, Raphael 
begins to narrate the course of events from the 
beginning — V. 

viz. : — the War in Heaven and the Expul- 
sion ; VI. 
and the Creation of the World. VII. 
Adam tells Raphael of his finding himself in 
Eden, and of the prohibition to touch the tree of 
knowledge. Raphael repeats the warning, and 
leaves him. VIII. 

(4) They sin and are expelled. IX.— XII. 

THE COSMOLOGY OF PARADISE LOST. 

Much of Paradise Lost is occupied with events 
that take place outside the universe as known to 
man — in Heaven, Hell and Chaos; much, too, 
with matters connected with that universe ; while 
the relations of the various realms to one another, 
and the nature of man's World as described or 
assumed in the poem, are so peculiar and so funda- 
mental, that clear ideas on the subject are of the 
highest importance. 

On reading the poem we find that Book I. does 
not begin the story, for there the War in Heaven is 
over and the rebels are undergoing punishment else- 
where ; it is not till Books V.-VI. that the Angel 
Raphael is introduced, giving Adam a " full narra- 
tion " of things from the beginning — and it is 
chiefly by means of these later books that we con- 
struct the key to the earlier ones. 




INTRODUCTK )N. IX 

I. At the earliest period referred to by Raphael, 
Space consists of two parts, Heaven or the Empy- 
rean, and Chaos : 1 "as yet 
this World was not," nor 
Man, nor Hell. Heaven 
alone is created, or formed : 
the rest of space is a blank. 
This stage we may symbol- 
ize * 2 by figure 1. Heaven, 
we gather, is the region of 
light and life, the abode of 
God and the Angels — "the 
Sons of God." Of its size Fi s- *• 

and shape nothing definite is said. It is totally cut 
off by means of a crystal floor from Chaos ; various 
ornamental features are mentioned — as gates, bat- 
tlements and walls ; and its beauty is suggested by 
descriptions of ideal earthly scenery, "heavenly 
paradises." The Angels are of two kinds — Cher- 
ubim and Seraphim, arranged in three ranks — 
Archangels or Chiefs, Princes, and individual Powers 
or Intelligence, 3 each kind having its special duties : 
the peculiar nature and mode of existence of these 
immaterial beings are described — their immortal- 
ity, their might, their power of assuming any shape, 
and so forth. In all this Milton follows hints from 
the Scriptures, especially the vision of St. John (in 
the Book of fievelation), Jewish writings, Dante, 
and the traditions of the early and middle ages. 

I. Heaven, perhaps that which is "heaved" up: Empyrran (Gk\), 
" made of fire " (the purest of the four elements ; Chaos, the chasm, cleft 
or abyss. 

2 The diagrams are merely symbolic: the form of Space, the relative 
magnitude of Heaven, Chaos and Hell, and the exact position of the 
World are not indicated in the poem. 

3. Masson. 



X INTRODUCTION. 

He cautions us that his language is merely sym- 
bolical. 

The Almighty, Himself invisible, has His throne 
on a central mount, clouded in dazzling brightness, 
where He receives the adoration of His sons, and 
makes known His commands. 

Chaos, 1 "the Deep" or " the Abyss," is the name 
which Milton gives to that portion of space which 
lies outside Heaven. Its nature is inconceivable 
and indescribable, for it consists of that which has 
not yet been organized into matter, — neither earth, 
air, fire nor water. The whole region is utterly 
devoid of life and light : it is left by the Almighty 
in utter confusion and darkness — "to the sway of 
^Anarchy and Night." 

" a dark 
Illimitable ocean, without bound, 

Without dimension : where length, breadth, and highth, 
And time, and place, are lost; where eldest Night 
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold 
Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise 
Of endless wars, and by confusion stand. 
For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions fierce, 
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring 
Their embryon atoms" (II. 891-900J. 

II. This division of space continues until the 
revolt of the Angels, which leads to their expul- 
sion : the floor of Heaven opens, they are driven 
out through the gap, and fall through " the Abyss " 
for nine days. Then they come to the place which 
the Almighty has prepared for them out of a por- 
tion of Chaos. It lies open to receive them, closes 
above them, and imprisons them. This new abode 
of theirs is called Hell : it is situated in the part of 

1. The fullest description of Chaos and its presiding deity is given in 
Book II. 890-1033. 




INTRODUCTION. XI 

Space remotest from Heaven, in " the bottomless 

pit," and is partitioned off 

from Chaos by walls and 

roof of fire. Its shape is 

not described, but the roof 

is said to be vaulted (fig. 

2). Within it was indeed a 

place of torment, "created 

evil, for evil only good," "a 

place of fierce extremes," 

" with many a frozen, many 

a fiery Alp," "a universe of Fig - 2 - 

death;" so that Satan exclaims, on surveying it, 

" Here at least 
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built 
Here fur His envy, will not drive us hence. " 

A means of exit into Chaos is afterwards discov- 
ered, through a gateway, guarded by two beings 
named Sin and Death. These open the gate for 
Satan, but cannot close it again : so that the Inter- 
nals can henceforth pass out and in at will. 

III. After their fall the Angels lie stunned and 
bewildered on a burning lake for nine days, and it 
is during this period that the next change is brought 
about. For some time the Almighty had purposed 
creating a new World, and placing in it a new and 
favored race. At His command the Messiah now 
issues forth "far into Chaos," and with "the golden 
compass " "circumscribes this Universe " of Earth, 
and Planets, and all that is cognizable by man. 
This new World hangs from the floor of Heaven by 
a golden chain attached to its topmost point, or 
zenith : but whether it is suspended from the centre 
of the Empyrean, and poised about the centre of 




Xll INTRODUCTION. 

Space (as suggested in diagram 3), and what its 
relative size, cannot be determined. 1 

Man is thus in a middle 
position, the Good above, 
the Evil below, and he is 
to be connected with both. 
For the use of the good 
angels a golden stairway is 
let down from Heaven, and 
for the use of the evil ones 
a broad path, or bridge, is 
made by Sin and Death 
through the Deep in the 
track taken by Satan on his journey of exploration 
(II. 1024, etc.) The golden stair can be drawn 
up as if to secure Heaven against unwished-for 
visitants, but the lower bridge is never closed. 
The two roads meet at the same point, where there 
is an opening affording access to the interior of 
the World. 

IV. Let us now look at this new World. It was 
created primarily' 3 for a new race of beings, Man, 
and his abode, the Earth, is appropriately made its 
centre. It is a complicated system of ten hollow 
spheres or shells fitted one within another, and 
around the solid Earth. Each sphere has a motion 
of its own, imparted, in the first place, by the out- 
side shell, called the Primum Mobile, or First 
Moved — how it is moved we are not told. Of 

1. Professor Masson makes the radius of the World one-third of a to d, 
and consequently the World stretches from a to e. This seems to agree 
with I 73, 74. but not with II. 10^2-3. 1,1 which the World appears to 
Satan in the distance "as a star of i-mallest m gnitude," nor with III. 
427-8, where the World "from the wall of Heaven, thoug 1 distant far, 
some small reflection gains." The force of the passage I. 73-4 depends 
on the meaning of the term " pole," which is rather vague, and in VII 23, 
seems applicable to the point a. 

1 Cp. VIII. 98-9. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Xlll 



these spheres only two are material — the Primum 
Mobile or hard, external casing, and the next 
within it, the Crystalline Sphere, which consists of 
a clear, watery fluid. The first is designed as a 
protection to the whole system, the latter to mod- 
erate the extremes of heat and cold which may 
permease the outer framework. The remaining 
eight are, or may be regarded as, mere divisions of 
space, in which the several planets or orbs have 




their respective orbits. It was in all probability to 
account for the different motions of the several 
planefs that the separate revolutions of the spheres 
were assumed. The seven planetary spheres, be- 
ginning with that nearest the Earth, are : the 
Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, 
Saturn. The eighth sphere contains those stars 



XIV INTRODUCTION. 

which occupy a fixed position with regard to one 
another, and it is therefore called the Fixed or the 
Firmament : it revolves once daily, carrying all its 
stars round with it. The Earth is supposed to be 
stationary. 

This theory of the World was gradually given up 
in favor of the simpler one of Copernicus (1473- 
1543), which was advocated by Galileo and others, 
and finally established by Kepler and Newton. 
According to this the Sun is the centre l of our 
universe, and is almost stationary; the Earth and 
the other planets revolve about it, whilst some cf 
these planets, e. g. the Earth, have satellites of their 
own; and finally the "fixed stars" are outside the 
solar universe altogether. 

Milton was well acquainted with the Copernican 
system, and may quite possibly have accepted it ; 
but in a poem concerned with topics so far beyond 
the pale of experience and knowledge, and so full 
of ancient and mediaeval ideas, beliefs, and fancies, 
the old theory, however erroneous, was not only 
fitting, but necessary; for it is involved in very 
many of the thoughts borrowed by Milton, as it is 
in some of our phrases at this day ; 2 in Milton's 
time it was generally still accepted, and it was un- 
doubtedly more poetical than the new system. 3 

i. More correctly, the sun is not at the centre, but at the common 
focus of the ellipses of the paths described by the planets. 

2. Professor Masson instances such phrases as " out of one's sphere." 

3. Consider e.g the quaint fancy of the music of the spheres as ex- 
pressed by Shakespeare {Merchant of Venice, V. i 60). 

" There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st 
But in his motion like an angel sings, 
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims; 
Such harmony is in immortal souls; 
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it." 



PARADISE LOST. 

BOCK I. 



PARADISE LOST. 

The Printer to the Reader. 

Courteous Reader, there was no Argument at first intended 
to the book; but for the satisfaction of many that have desired 
it, I have procured it, and withal a reason of that which 
stumbled many others, why the poem rimes not. 

■ — S. Simmons. 

The Verse. 

The measure is English heroic verse without rime, as that of 
Homer in Greek, and of Virgil in Latin; rime being no 
necessary adjunct or true ornament of poem or good verse, in 
longer works especially, but the invention of a barbarous age 
to set off wretched matter and lame metre; graced indeed since 
by the use of some famous modern poets, carried away by 
custom, but much to their own vexation, hindrance, and 
constraint to express many things otherwise, and for the most 
part worse, than else they would have expressed them. Not 
without cause therefore, some both Italian and Spanish poets 
of prime note have rejected rime both in longer and shorter 
works, as have also long since our best English tragedies; as a 
thing of itself, to all judicious ears, trivial and of no true 
musical delight; which consists only in apt numbers, fit quan- 
tity of syllables, and the sense variously drawn out from one 
verse into another; not in the jingling sound of like endings, a 
fault avoided by the learned ancients both in poetry and all 
good oratory. This neglect then of rime so little is to be taken 
for a defect, though it may seem so, perhaps, to vulgar readers, 
that it rather is to be esteemed an example set, the first in 
English, of ancient liberty recovered to heroic poem, from the 
troublesome and modern bondage of riming. 



The Argument. 

The first Book proposes, first in brief, the whole subject; 
Man's disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise where- 
in he was placed : then touches the prime cause of his Fall, the 
Serpent, or rather Satan in the serpent; who revolting from 
'God, and drawing to his side many legions of angels, was by 
the command of God driven out of Heaven with all his crew 
into the great deep. Which action passed over, the Poem 
hastes into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his 
angels now fallen into Hell, described here, not in the centre 
ffor heaven and earth may be supposed as yet not made, 
certainly not yet accursed), but in a place of utter darkness, 
fitliest called Chaos : here Satan with his angels lying on the 
burning lake, thunderstruck and astonished, after a certain 
space recovers, as from confusion ; calls up him who next in 
order and dignity lay by him; they confer of their miserable 
fall. Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then in the 
same manner confounded. They rise; their numbers; array 
of battle; their chief leaders named, according to the idols 
known afterwards in Canaan, and the countries adjoining. To 
these Satan directs his speech; comforts them with hope yet 
of regaining Heaven; but tells them lastly of a new world 
and new kind of creature to be created, according to an 
ancient prophecy or report in Heaven : for that angels were 
long before this visible creation, was the opinion of many 
ancient Fathers. To find out the truth of this prophecy, and 
what to determine thereon, he refers to a full council. What 
his associates thence attempt. Pandemonium the palace of 
Satan rises, suddenly built out of the deep. The infernal peers 
there sit in counsel. 



PARADISE LOST. 



BOOK I. 



The subject of the poem, Maris fall. Invocation of the 
Holy Spirit's aid. 

Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit 

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste 

Brought death into the World, and all our woe, 

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man 

Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, 5 

Sing, Heavenly Muse, that on the secret top 

Of Oreb, or of Sinai, dids't inspire 

That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed 

2. mortal, rendering liable to death. 

6. Sing, etc. All pr- ceding epic poets — Homer, Virgil, Dante, etc., 
use a similar form of invocation: in Milton's case it is a devout prayer for 
" that impulse or voice of God by which the prophets were inspired." 

secret. This term probably refers to the manner in which Moses 
received God's communications: see Exodus xix. 3, 12, 20; xxiv. 2 
(" and Moses alone shall come nea> ,") etc 

7. Oreb (Horeb , or of Sinai. Milton refers either to two events — 
the appearam e in the burning bush {Exodus \\\ ) and the giving of the 
Law — or, m re probably, to the latter event alone, Sinai being a part of 
Horeb, a mountain group north of the Red Sea. 

8. that shepherd, etc. Moses, whose account of the creation is in 
Genesis i. Cp. Psalm lxxvii. 20. 

the chosen seed : the Jews considered themselves to be God's 
favored people. 

5 



6 PARADISE LOST. 

In the beginning how the Heavens and Earth 
Rose out of Chaos : or, if Sion hill IO 

Delight thee more, and Siloa's brook that flow'd 
Fast by the oracle of God, I thence 
Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, 
That with no middle flight intends to soar 
Above the Aonian mount, while it pursues 
Things unattempted yet in prose or rhime. 
And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer 
Before all temples the upright heart and pure, 
Instruct me, for thou know'st ; thou from the first 
Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, 2 ° 
Dove-like sat'st brooding on the vast Abyss, 
And mad'st it pregnant : what in me is dark 
Illumine, what is low raise and support : 
That to the highth of this great argument 
I may assert Eternal Providence, 
And justify the ways of God to men. 

9. the Heavens and Earth, i.e. this Universe: see Cosmology. 

10. Sion hill, where the Temple stood. 

11. Siloa's brook, a stream flowing from the pool of Siloam into the 
Kirlron, just beneath the city walls and very near the Temple (" the 
oracle," / ICings vi.). 

1^. Aonia or Mt Helicon) in Boeotia was the supposed abode of the 
nine M 1 ses from whom the ancient poets sought inspiration. Cp. vii. 
12-14, and ix 1-47. 

Milton means, therefore, either that he intends to surpass the ancient 
poets. Homer and Virgil, or that he intends to wri e on subjects higher 
than any they ever treated of. 

19-22. Cp. Genesis i. ; and for " dove-like," Matthew iii 16. 

21. Abyss, lit. the bottomless depth (of the sea, etc.) : here, Chaos. 

22. pregnant, filled with life Cp. vii. 234-242. 

24. highth, the correct form of the word: cp. depth, etc. 

25. assert, defend in argument. 



PARADISE LOST. 7 

Man's fall caused by Satan in revenge for his expulsion 
from I/eai'en. 

Say first — for Heaven hides nothing from thy 
view, 
Nor the deep tract of hell — say first what cause 
Moved our grand parents, in that happy state, 
Favored of Heaven so highly, to fall off 30 

From their Creator, and transgress his will 
For one restraint, lords of the World besides. 
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt? 
The infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile, 
Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived 35 

The mother of mankind, what time his pride 
Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host 
Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring 
To set himself in glory above his peers, 
He trusted to have equalled the Most High, 40 

If he opposed ; and with ambitious aim 
Against the throne and monarchy of God 
Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud, 
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power 
Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, 45 

29. grand parents, first parents, ancestors. 

32. For one restraint, etc., '• because of one restraint, being, in all 

else, lords," etc. 

34. infernal, lit. belonging to the lower regions ''or " hell"): hence, 
wicked, fiendish But the word is aUo used without the notion of 
" wicked" : cp. " infernal court," 792. 

36. what time, when: cp. Lycidas, 28, "what time the gray-fly 
winds her sultry horn." 

39. peers, equals. Satan's " peers" were his fellow-archangels. 

45. flaming. Cp. Luke x. 18, " I beheld Satan as lightning fail from 
heaven ." 



8 PARADISE LOST. 

With hideous ruin and combustion, down 
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell 
In adamantine chains and penal fire, 
Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms. 

Satan, recovering from his stupor, " views the situation" 1 : 
Hell described. 

Nine times the space that measures day and night 5° 
To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew, 
Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, 
Confounded, though immoital. But his doom 
Reserved him to more wrath ; for now the thought 
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain 
Torments him ; round he throws his baleful eyes, 
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay, 
Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate. 
At once, as far as Angel's ken, he views 
The dismal situation, waste and wild. 
A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, 

46. ruin, in its Latin sense, downfall. 

combustion, confusion, uproar, tumult. 

48. adamantine, lit made of adamant; that is, indestructible, un- 
breakable: cp. 11 646. " adamantine rock . . . impenetrable . . . uncon- 
sumed " by fire: and ii. 168, " we lay chained on the burning lake." The 
name " adamant " was applied to steel and the diamond 

penal fire, fire used as a means of inflicting punishment. Cp. 
" penal laws," " penalty," etc. 

50. nine was a sort of sacred number with the ancients, as being a 
multiple of three. Cp. the use of the number seven in the Old Testament. 

51. crew, any company of men, as a ship's crew. 

57. witnessed, bore witness to. 

59. ken may be taken either as a verb or as a noun; if the latter, 
angels will be in the possessive case, either singular or plural, as the 
mark of the possessive was in Milton's time often omitted. (M. E. 
kennen, to know.) 






PARADISE LOST. 9 

As one great furnace flamed • yet from those flames 

No light ; but rather darkness visible 

Served only to discover sights of woe, 

Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 6 5 

And rest can never dwell, hope never comes 

That comes to all, but torture without end 

Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed 

With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed. 

Such place Eternal Justice has prepared 7° 

For those rebellious ; here their prison ordained 

In utter darkness, and their portion set, 

As far removed from God and light of Heaven, 

As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole. 

Oh, how unlike the place from whence they fell ! 75 

There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelmed 

63. darkness visible, etc. Cp. 181-183: 

" The seat of desolation, void of light, 

Save what the glimmering of these livid flames 
Casts pale and dreadful." 

The language used in the text is contradictory only if taken literally — 
" the dungeon flamed," i.e. the flames were visible, but the dull " glim- 
mering " was only sufficient to revtal the prevailing horror and gloom. 
Mr Beeching says, " The flame of a spirit-lamp in a dark room will sug- 
gest what is meant." Cp. also Job x. 22. 

63. darkness visible, that is, gloom. Darkness is not itself visible 
any more than silence is audible. [What figure of speech is " darkness 
visible," taken literally?] 

66-67 " where) hope, that comes to all (mortals), never comes."* The 
thought is found in Euripides: and Dante Inferno iii. ; has the famous 
inscription over the gates of hell, " All hope abandon, ye who enter here." 

68. urges, torments, harasses. A Latinism. Cp. ii. 88-89, " P am • • • 
must exercise us." 

72. utter, outer, further from Heaven, hence belonging to Hell; the 
intervening beii.g the " middle " darkness. 

74. That is, three times the distance from the centre of this Universe 
(the Earth) to the outside sphere the Primum Mobile', or else to its 
point of suspension from the Empyrean. Eor this use of " centre," cp. 
•686-687. On the position of the Universe in space, see Cosmology. 



IO PARADISE LOST. 

With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, 
He soon discerns ; and, weltering by his side, 
One next himself in power, and next in crime, 
Long after known in Palestine, and named 8o 

Beelzebub. To whom the Arch-Enemy, 
And thence in Heaven called Satan, with bold 

words 
Breaking the horrid silence, thus began : — 

Satan's speech to his comrade Beelzebub; he avows undv- 
iuo hate, and urges " eternal war." 

" If thou beest he — but Oh, how fallen ! how 

changed 
From him ! — who. in the happy realms of light, 8 5 
Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine 
Myriads, though bright — if he whom mutual league, 
United thoughts and counsels, equal hope 
And hazard in the glorious enterprise, 
Joined with me once, now misery hath joined 
In equal ruin ; into what pit thou seest 
From what highth fallen : so much the stronger 

proved 
He with his thunder : and till then who knew 
The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those, 

78. weltering, rolling about. In the Bible of 1549 we read, " He that 
weltereth a st'>ne"; in the version of 1610, " He that rolleth a stone." 
{Proverbs xxvi. 27.) 

79-81. Beelzebub, or Baalzebub, lit. " lord of flies," was a god of the 
Philistine^. His chief temple was at Ekron; his wishes were probably 
interpreted by the humming and motions of flies. 

82. Satan (Hebrew) enemy: his former name was Lucifer (" light- 
bearer "). 



PARADISE LOST. I I 

Not what the potent Victor in his rage 9s 

Can else inflict, do I repent, or change, 

Though changed in outward lustre, that fixed mind, 

And high disdain from sense of injured merit, 

That with the Mightiest raised me to contend, 

And to the fierce contention brought along IO ° 

Innumerable force of spirits armed, 

That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring, 

His utmost power with adverse power opposed 

In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven, 

And shook his throne. What though the field be 

lost? IQ 5 

All is not lost — the unconquerable will, 

And study of revenge, immortal hate, 

And courage never to submit or yield : 

And what is else not to be overcome. 

That glory never shall his wrath or might IIQ 

Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace 

With suppliant knee, and deify his power 

Who, from the terror of this arm, so late 

Doubted his empire — that were low indeed ; 

102. dislike, disapprove: not to " dislike " in our sense of the word: 
the latter does not depend upon our " darii.g," the former may. 

104. dubious, for a time uncertain as to the result: the battle lasted 
three days. See Book \ i. 

109 "And in what else i e besides these qualities) does not being 
overcome consist? " The line is, properly, parenthetical, or 'explanatory: 
and in some editions was pi inted in brackets. "That glory," then, refers 
directly to " submit or yield." 

Some editors, however, put a semicolon after " overc-me," so that the 
line means " and whatever other qualities are invincible," or " in what- 
ever besides invincibility consists." 

114. doubted his empire, felt insecure in regard to his supremacy. 



12 PARADISE LOST. 

That were an ignominy and shame beneath "5 

This downfall ; since, by fate, the strength of gods, 
And this empyreal substance, cannot fail ; 
Since, through experience of this great event, 
In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced, 
We may with more successful hope resolve I2 ° 

To wage by force or guile eternal war, 
Irreconcilable to our grand foe, 
Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy 
Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven." 

So spake the apostate Angel, though in pain, I2 s- 
Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair ; 
And him thus answered soon his bold compeer : — 

Beelzebub' 's reply: he is less hopeful: — " What avails it 
if we live only to suffer ?" 

11 O Prince, O Chief of many throned powers 
That led the embattled Seraphim to war 

n6. by fate, etc. Satan regards the angels as equal to God in all but 
power heme " gods") and equally free; not created by the Almighty, 
but, like Him, seH-iormed and immortal. 

fate, necessity, the nature of things, regarded as unalterable and 
beyond the power of God. 

117. this empyreal substance. The four elements, according to the 
ancients, were earth, air, fire and water. Of these '• fire" was considered 
the n. blest, and of it the angels, the heavens, etc., were supposed to be 
formed, whereas man was formed of " earth." Cp. 137-139. 

124. tyranny. In ancient Greece a tyrant was a man who usurped the 
supreme authority, and governed ;<t will He was not necessarily a bad 
ruler. It is probably in a neutral sense that tyranny is used here 

125. apostate, as adj., false, traitorous: lit. one who deserts (his 
religion, party, etc./. 

127. compeer, an associate or companion of equal rank. 

128. throned powers, i.e. powers of high rank: cp. line 360. 

129. embattled, arranged in order of battle. 



PARADISE LOST. 1 3 

Under thy conduct, and, in dreadful deeds x 3° 

Fearless, endangered Heaven's perpetual King, 

And put to proof his high supremacy, 

Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate ! 

Too well I see and rue the dire event 

That, with sad overthrow and foul defeat, J 35 

Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host 

In horrible destruction laid thus low, 

As far as gods and Heavenly essences 

Can perish : for the mind and spirit remains 

Invincible, and vigor soon returns, 1 *° 

Though all our glory extinct, and happy state 

Here swallowed up in endless misery. 

But what if he our conqueror (whom I now 

Of force believe almighty, since no less 

Than such could have o'erpowered such force as 

OUrs) J 45 

Have left us this our spirit and strength entire, 

Strongly to suffer and support our pains, 

That we may so suffice his vengeful ire, 

Or do him mightier service as his thralls 

By right of war, whate'er his business be, I s° 

Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire, 

Or do his errands in the gloomy Deep ? 

What can it then avail though yet we feel 

130. conduct, leadership. 

138. essences, beings. 

144. of force, either perforce, of necessity; or depending on 
" almighty." 

152. the gloomy deep, Chaos. 



14 PARADISE LOST. 

Strength undiminished, or eternal being 

To undergo eternal punishment? " J 55 

Whereto with speedy words the Arch-Fiend replied : 

Satan's r> joinder ; " Revenge is sweet ; we can live to 
t/nvart our enemy" 

" Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable, 
Doing or suffering : but of this be sure — 
To do aught good never will be our task, 
But ever to do ill our sole delight, l6 ° 

As being the contrary to his high will 
Whom we resist. If then his providence 
Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, 
Our labor must be to pervert that end, 
And out of good still to find means of evil : l6 5 

Which ofttimes may succeed so as perhaps 
Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb 
His inmost counsels from their destined aim. 

"The storm is over ; let us muster our forces and consult 
together" 

But see ! the angry victor hath recalled 

His ministers of vengeance and pursuit x 7° 

Back to the gates of Heaven : the sulphurous hail, 

Shot after us in storm, o'erblown hath laid 

The fiery surge that from the precipice 

Of Heaven received us falling; and the thunder, 

156. fiend, lit. hater, enemy. 

172. laid, stilled, calmed. " The storm of hail having blown over, the 
fiery waves become calm." 



i8o 



PARADISE LOST. 

Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage, 

Perhaps hath spent his shafts, and ceases now 

To bellow through the vast and boundless Deep. 

Let us not slip the occasion, whether scorn 

Or satiate fury yield it from our foe. 

Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, 

The seat of desolation, void of light, 

Save what the glimmering of these livid flames 

Casts pale and dreadful? Thither let us tend 

From off the tossing of these fiery waves ; 

There rest, if any rest can harbor there ; 

And, reassembling our afflicted powers, 

Consult how we may henceforth most offend 

Our enemy, our own loss how repair, 

How overcome this dire calamity, 

What re-inforcement we may gain from hope, x 9° 

If not, what resolution from despair." 

Satan 's vastne>s suggested by comparisons. 

Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate, 
With head uplift above the wave, and eyes 
That sparkling blazed ; his other parts besides 
Prone on the flood, extended long and large, r 9* 

176. his, masculine, as "Thunder" is personified. At this time 
(c. 1660) 'its" was ju>-t coming into use as the neuter of "his." 
In the Bible of 1610 "its "occurs only once Leviticus xxv. 5), in 
Milton's poem^ only lour or five times.; 

178. slip, let slip (transitive^ Cp Macbeth, " I . . . shpt the hour," 
and such current phrases as " slip a cable," etc. 

186. afflicted, in its Latin sense, flung or dashed down, crushed, 
powers, forces, armies. 

187. offend, harm. 



i6 PARADISE LOST. 

Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge 

As whom the fables name of monstrous size, 

Titanian or Earth-born, that warred on Jove, 

Briareos or Typhon, whom the den 

By ancient Tarsus held, or that sea-beast 2 °° 

Leviathan, which God of all his works 

Created hugest that swim the ocean stream. 

Him, haply slumbering on the Norway foam, 

The pilot of some small night-foundered skiff, 

Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, 2 °5 

With fixed anchor in his scaly rind, 

Moors by his side under the lee, while night 

Invests the sea, and wished morn delays. 

He is allowed to rise. 

So stretched out huge in length the Arch-Fiend lay, 
Chained on the burning lake ; nor ever thence 2I ° 

198-200. (whether) Titanian or Earth-born. The Titans were 
the twelve sons of Uranus and Ge (i e. Heaven and Earth) ; the Earth- 
born, offspring of the same parents, were the Giants. According to the 
legends the Giants made war on Jove, and were destroyed for their inso- 
lence Briareos was one of the Titans, Typhon one of the Giants. The 
latter was supposed to dwell in a cave in Cilicia (in Asia Minor) which 
Milton denotes by Tarsus, its capital. 

201. Leviathan, etc. The description fits the whale — except the 
" scaly rind " \ 206) : the name (Hebrew) is found in Job xli., and seems 
to be applied to the crocodile ; but in other passages of Scripture, as in 
Psalms civ. 26, to any sea monster. 

203-207. Olaus Magnus, a Swede (in his History of the Northern 
Nations, 1658), and other writers of Milton's time, tell of the whale's 
being taken for an island by sailors, who anchor to his back, drive stakes 
into him, etc. Milton speak* of him as " like a promontory " (vii. 414) ; 
''/our acres in extent," says another writer! 

204. night-foundered, lost in the darkness, stopped by the night 
coming on. (Strictly ,/ounder means to sink.) 

skiff, ship. (Now the word denotes a small boat.) 

208. Invests, enshrouds, wraps (like a garment). 



PARADISE LOST. J 

Had risen, or heaved his head, but that the will 

And high permission of all-ruling Heaven 

Left him at large to his own dark designs, 

That with reiterated crimes he might 

Heap on himself damnation, while he sought 2I - 

Evil to others, and enraged might see 

How all his malice served but to bring forth 

Infinite goodness, grace, and mercy, shown 

On Man by him seduced, but on himself 

Treble confusion, wrath, and vengeance poured. 22C 

Satan and Beelzebub fly to land : the land described. 

Forthwith upright he rears from off the pc ol 
His mighty stature ; on each hand the flames 
Driven backward slope their pointing spires, and, 

rolled 
In billows, leave in the mid- a horrid vale. 
Then with expanded wings he steers his flight 22 s 
Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air, 
That felt unusual weight ; till on dry land 
He lights — if it were land that ever burned 
With solid, as the lake with liquid fire, 
And such appeared in hue as when the force 
Of subterranean wind transports a hill 
Torn from Pelorus, or the shattered side 
Of thundering ^Etna, whose combustible 



232 Pelorus, now Cape Faro, N. E. of Sicily. It is near Etna. Prob- 
ably " from " governs " shattered side." 



1 8 PARADISE LOST. 

And fueled entrails, thence conceiving fire, 
Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds, 2 35 

And leave a singed bottom all involved 
With stench and smoke. Such resting found the 

sole 
Of unblest feet. Him followed his next mate ; 
Both glorying to have scaped the Stygian flood 
As gods, and by their own recovered strength, 2 4° 
Not by the sufferance of supernal power. 

Saiaris soliloquy on viewing their new abode. 

" Is this the region, this the soil, the clime," 
Said then the lost Archangel, " this the seat 
That we must change for Heaven? this mournful 

gloom 
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he 24 s 

Who now is sovran can dispose and bid 
What shall be right : farthest from him is best, 
Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made 

supreme 
Above his equals. Farewell, happy fields, 

234-237. thence, etc. " The contents of the mountain catching fire 
from this wind are changed int > vapor by a heat like that of molten metals, 
and, in their turn, increase the force of the wind " Properly, subliming 
is a chemical operation in which volatile solids are separated from impuri- 
ties, by heating, just as liquids are purified by distillation.; 

involved, enveloped. 

239 Stygian, hateful, horrible. Cp. 195. The Styx (" hateful"), of 
the classical mythology, was the chief river in the lower world. 

246. sovran, O. F. soverain. A more correct form than sovereign — 
confused with reign. 

247-249 " Furthest from him is best for us; for though we are his 
equals in reason, we are inferior to him in strength." Cp. 92-94, and 
144-145. 



PARADISE LOST. IC, 

Where joy forever dwells ! Hail, horrors ! hail, 2 s< 
Infernal world ! and thou, profoundest Hell, 
Receive thy new possessor — one who brings 
A mind not to be changed by place or time. 
The mind is its own place, and in itself 
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. 2s: 
What matter where, if I be still the same, 
And what I should be, all but less than he 
Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least 
We shall be free ; the Almighty hath not built 
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence : 26c 

Here we may reign secure ; and, in my choice, 
To reign is worth ambition, though in Hell : 
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. 

They agree to rouse and rally their followers. 



265 



But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, 
The associates and co-partners of our loss, 
Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool, 
And call them not to share with us their part 
In this unhappy mansion, or once more 
With rallied arms to try what may be yet 
Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell ? " 2 ?° 
So Satan spake ; and him Beelzebub 

266. astonished, stunned, " astounded" (281", " confounded " ,53"*, 
"entranced " (301). Lit , struck senseless. 

oblivious, causing forgetfulness. Cp. Macbeth, " oblivious anti- 
dote"; and " forgetful lake," ii. 74. Milton is thinking of the liver Lethe 
of the classical mythology, which caused all who drank of it to forget the 
past. 

268. mansion, place of abode. 



20 PARADISE LOST. 

Thus answered : — " Leader of those armies bright 
Which, but the Omnipotent, none could have 

foiled ! 
If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledge 
Of hope in fears and dangers — heard so oft 2 75 
In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge 
Of battle, when it raged, in all assaults 
Their surest signal — they will soon resume 
New courage, and revive, though now they lie 
Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of fire, 28 ° 

As we erewhile, astounded and amazed ; 
No wonder, fallen such a pernicious highth ! " 

The appearance of Satan as he makes for the shore, and 
of his legions as they lie on the lake. 

He scarce had ceased when the superior Fiend 
Was moving toward the shore ; his ponderous 

shield, 
Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, 285 

Behind him cast. The broad circumference 

274. pledge, surety. 

276-277. perilous edge of battle, either the front line of battle, or at 
the critical moment 

281. astounded same as astonished See 266. 

amazed, in a stronger sense than that in which it is now used: 
bewildered, dazed. ^Fr.>m maze. 

282. pernicious, destructive, ruinous. 

285 Ethereal temper (a thing , wrought in Heaven, of heavenly 
workmanship. Cp iv. 812: 

" No falsehood can endure 
Touch of celestial temper " [i.e. Ithuriel's spear), etc. 

( Temper, to bring to the proper degree of hardness, to mix metals in 
due proportion.) 



PARADISE LOST. 2 1 

Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb 

Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views 

At evening, from the top of Fesole, 

Or in Valdarno, to descry new lands, 2 9° 

Rivers, or mountains, in her spotty globe. 

His spear — to equal which the tallest pine 

Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast 

Of some great ammiral, were but a wand — 

He walked with, to support uneasy steps 2 95 

Over the burning marie, not like those steps 

On Heaven's azure ; and the torrid clime 

Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire. 

Nathless he so endured, till on the beach 

Of that inflamed sea he stood, and called 3°° 

His legions — Angel forms, who lay entranced, 

Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks 

In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades 



288. artist, a professor of an art: it also denoted a skilled worker, our 
"artisan." The "Tuscan artist" is Galileo (1564-1642), a teacher of 
mathematics and astronomy at Pisa. His improvements in the telescope 
— for he did not invent it - enabled him to make discoveries which con- 
vinced him of the truth of the Copernican theory of astronomy. 

289-290 Fesole, now Fiesole. is a hill near Florence. Valdarno, i.e. 
Val d'Arno, the valley in which Florence is situated. 

294. ammiral, the chief ship of a fleet, so called from its carrying the 
superior officer. 

296. marie, ground; properly a soft, rich soil. Cp. 562. 

297. Heaven's azure, the crystal floor of Heaven. 

299. Nathless, none the less; now displaced by nevertheless. The 
word is common in Chaucer. 

303. Vallombrosa ("'shady valley ") a beautiful and thickly wooded 
valley and hilly slope about eighteen miles from Florence. It is said that 
Milton spent several days at a monastery that stood here. 

Etruria, Tuscany. 



2 2 PARADISE LOST. 

High over-arched imbower ; or scattered sedge 
Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion armed 305 

Hath vexed the Red-Sea coast, whose waves o'er- 

threw 
Busiris and his M^mphian chivalry, 
While with perfidious hatred they pursued 
The sojourners of Goshen, who beheld 
From the safe shore their floating carcases 310 

And broken chariot-wheels. So thick bestrewn, 
Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood, 
Under amazement of their hideous change. 

Satan taunts them for their inactivity, and calls then to 
arms. 

He called so loud, that all the hollow deep 

Of Hell resounded : " Princes, Potentates, 315 

304. sedge, in Hebrew the Red Sea is called " the sedgy sea," on 
account of the large quantity of sea-weed found in it. 

305. Orion .'Orion , a constellation so named from a companion cf 
Artemis or Diana, the gocMes of hunting. The time of year at which 
this constellation sets — November or early December — was generally 
associated by the poets wuh bad weather. 

armed, some of the stars of Orion appear to be arranged in the 
form of a sword and belt 

307. Busiris, here identified with the Pharaoh of Exodus. 

Memphian Egyptian, from the ancient capital Memphis, on the 
west bank of the Nile. 

chivalry, army — horse and foot, though in this case mainly 
horse. (Exodus, xiv 28 ) Doublet " cavalry." See 575 n. on infantry 
and cavalry. 

308. perfidious. Pharaoh had given the Israelites permission to leave 
Egypt. 

309. sojourners, temporary dwellers in a place. 
Goshen, a district east of the delta of the Nile. 
who beheld, etc. See Exodus xxiv. 30. 

311. abject, cast down. 



PARADISE LOST. 23 

"Warriors, the flower of Heaven — once yours ; now 

lost, 
If such astonishment as this can seize 
Eternal Spirits ! Or have ye chosen this place 
After the toil of battle to repose 
Your wearied virtue, for the ease you find 320 

To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven? 
Or in this abject posture have ye sworn 
To adore the conqueror, who now beholds 
•Cherub and Seraph rolling in the flood 
With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon 325 

His swift pursuers from Heaven-gates discern 
The advantage, and, descending, tread us down 
Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts 
Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf? — 
Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen ! " 330 

Their appearance: their multitude suggested by comparisons. 

They heard, and were abashed, and up they 
sprung 
Upon the wing, as when men wont to watch, 
On duty sleeping found by whom they dread, 
Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. 
Nor did they not perceive the evil plight 335 

In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel; 
Yet to their General's voice they soon obeyed 

318-322. Or . . . or, whether ... or. 

virtue, valor, bravery: lit. manliness. 
337. obey, in M E. took a dative case. 



24 PARADISE LOST. 

Innumerable. As when the potent rod 
Of Amran's son, in Egypt's evil day, 
Waved round the coast, up-called a pitchy cloud 340 
Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind, 
That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung 
Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile ; 
So numberless were those bad Angels seen 
Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell, 345 

'Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires ; 
Till, as a signal given, the uplifted spear 
Of their great Sultan waving to direct 
Their course, in even balance, down they light 
On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain : 350 
A multitude like which the populous North 
Poured never from her frozen loins to pass 
Rhene or the Danavv, when her barbarous sons 
Came like a deluge on the South, and spread 
Beneath Gibraltar to the Libyan sands. 355 

The leaders come forward — for the lime being nameless. 

Forthwith from every squadron and each band, 

338, etc. Alluding to Moses and the plagues. See Exodus x 12, etc. 

341. warping, " floating about " at the mercy of the wind. 

345. cope, roof, vault. 

348. sultan ^or soldan, 764 , victor, prince: in 378 "emperor." 

351-355. The Cloths from the province of Dacia, north of 'he Danube 
{Danaiv , pressed forward by the Huns, settl d in " the Empire " in 376; 
soon afterwards they defeated the Romans in battle Forty years hter the 
west Goths sa ked Rome, and some passed into Gaul and Spain German 
tribes, too, were at this time cross ng the Rhine Rhcne) , and pressing on 
into Gaul and Spain Hordes of Huns now a't eked Romans, Goths, and 
Germans alike, but were defeated in 451 at Chalons — one of the world's 
critical battles. Some Germans called Vandals, who had at first settled in 
Spain, crossed into Africa Libya in 429, and founded a kingdom, with 
Carthage as capital. Even in Italy some east Goths settled. From these 
various settlements the Romance nations sprung. 



PARADISE LOST. 25 

The heads and leaders thither haste where stood 
Their great Commander — godlike shapes, and 

forms 
Excelling human ; princely dignities : 
xA.nd powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones, 360 
Though of their names in Heavenly records now 
Be no memorial, blotted out and rased 
By their rebellion from the Books of Life. 
Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve 
Got them new names, till, wandering o'er the 

Earth, 365 

Through God's high sufferance for the trial of Men, 
By falsities and lies the greatest part 
Of Mankind they corrupted to forsake 
God their Creator, and the invisible 
Glory of him that made them to transform 370 

Oft to the image of a brute, adorned 
With gay religions full of pomp and gold, 
And devils to adore for deities : 
Then were they known to men by various names, 
And various idols through the heathen world. 

360. erst, superl. of ere ; once, at fir.st. 
For thrones, cp. 128 and 737 «. 

362. rased, for " erased."' What is the difference ? 

363. Books of Life. Revelation iii. 5. 

372. religions, decorations. So, in Shakespeare's Julius Ccesar, the 
statues of Caesar are " decked with ceremonies." 

358-375. Milton assumes the belief of the early Chiistian Church that 
the Pagan gods were fallen angels in disguise. In Par. Reg. {e.g. II 
121-126) he identifies the fallen angels with the " demons " of the four 
elements. 



2 6 PARADISE LOST. 

Tr.e leaders enumerated and described under the names 
they afterwards acquired as heathen deities. 

Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, 
who last, 
Roused from the slumber on that fiery couch, 
At their great Emperor's call, as next in worth 
Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, 
While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof. 380 
The chief were those who, from the pit of Hell 
Roaming to seek their prey on Earth, durst fix 
Their seats, long after, next the seat of God, 
Their altars by his altar, gods adored 
Among the nations round, and durst abide 
Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned 
Between the Cherubim ; yea, often placed 
Within his sanctuary itself their shrines, 
Abominations; and with cursed things 
His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned, 390 

And with their darkness durst affront his light. 

380. promiscuous, mixed, confused. 

382 Cp. / Peter v. 8, " Your adversary the devil . . . walketh about, 
seeking whom he may devour." 

383. seat of God, the Temple at Jerusalem. 

385-386. durst abide, stood their ground in spite of. Cp 470. 

thundering out of Sion, referring perhaps to what was 
thundered (the ten commandments, one of which forbade idolatry). 

387. Cherubim, two figures in the sanctuary of the Temple / Kings 
vi. 23. 

388. shrines, altars. See 2 Kings xxi. 4, " And he (i.e. King 
Manasseh) built altars in the house of the Lord." 

389. abominations : -eferring to the idolatrous character of the 
shrines. 



PARADISE LOST. 27 

First, Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood 
Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears ; 
Though, for the noise of drums and timbrels loud, 
Their children's cries unheard that passed through 
fire 395 

To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite 
Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain, 
In Argob and in Bashan, to the stream 
Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such 
Audacious neighborhood, the wisest heart 400 

Of Solomon he led by fraud to build 
His temple right against the temple of God, 
On that opprobrious hill, and made his grove 
The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence 
And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell. 40s 
Next Chemos, the obscene dread of Moab's sons, 
From Aroer to Nebo and the wild 
Of southmost Abarim ; in Hesebon 
And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond 
The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines, < 10 

392-521. See the Table of Heathen Deities, p. 48 

394. Timbrel, a kind of tambourine. 

403. that opprobrious hill, that hill of scandal 416" , the offensive 
mountain (443 , all refer to the Mt of Olives, near Jerusalem. 

404-405 Hinnom was a deep narrow ravine bounding Jerusalem on 
the south-west. To put an end to t; e idol worship carried oa there — 
with its human sacrifices —Jos ah rendered it " ceremonially unclean " 
by spreading h man bones, etc., in it. Henceforward the refuse of the 
city was deposited there. I'y re ison of its evil associations the later Jews 
used i s name Ge Hinnom or Gehenna, to denote the place of torment 
Tophet was the south-eastern p rt of the valley. Here, facing the city on 
the "hill of scandal," Solomon erected his high places to Moloch. 
(, Smith's Bible Diet.) 

406. obscene, foul, repulsive. 

409. Seon, King of the Ammonites. 



2 8 PARADISE LOST. 

And Eleale to the Asphaltic pool : 

Peor his other name, when he enticed 

Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile, 

To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe. 

Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged 4I s 

Even to that hill of scandal, by the grove 

Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate ; 

Till good Josiah drove them thence to Hell. 

With these came they who, from the bordering flood 

Of old Euphrates to the brook that parts * 2 ° 

Egvpt from Syrian ground, had general names 

Of Baalim and Ashtaroth — those male, 

These feminine. For Spirits, when they please, 

Can either sex assume, or both ; so soft 

And uncompounded is their essence pure, 425 

Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, 

Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, 

Like cumbrous flesh ; but in what shape they choose, 

Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, 

Can execute their aery pu- poses, 43 ° 

And works of love or enmity fulfil. 

For those the race of Israel oft forsook 

Their living Strength, and unfrequented left 

His righteous altar, bowing lowly down 

To bestial gods ; for which their heads, as low «5 

411 Asphaltic pool, Dead Sea. 

419. bordering flood, because forming the south or south-west boun- 
dary of Canaan. Genesis xv 18. 

435 bestial, refers either to the grossness of their worship, or to 47 6_ 
489 below. In Egypt the sacred bulls " maintained ... in the great 
temples ot their respective cities were perpetu -lly adored and prayed to by 
thousands during their lives, and at the.r deaths were entombed with the 
utmost care in huge sarcophagi, while all Egypt went into mourning for 
them " (Rawlins&n) 



PARADISE LOST. 29 

Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear 

Of despicable foes. With these in troop 

Came Ashtoreth, whom the Phoenicians called 

Astarte, Queen of Heaven, with crescent horns ; 

To whose bright image nightly by the moon 44° 

Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs ; 

In Sion also not unsung, where stood 

Her temple on the offensive mountain, built 

By that uxorious king whose heart, though large, 

Beguiled by fair idolatresses, fell 445 

To idols foul. Thammuz came next behind, 

Whose annual wound in Lebanon allured 

The Syrian damsels to lament his fate 

In amorous ditties all a summer's day, 

While smooth Adonis from his native rock 450 

Ran purple to the sea, supposed with blood 

Of Thammuz yearly wounded : the love-tale 

Infected Sion's daughters with like heat, 

Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch 

Ezekiel saw, when, by the vision led, 455 

His eye surveyed the dark idolatries 

Of alienated Judah. Next came one 

Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark 

Maimed his brute image, head and hands lopt off, 



438. Astoreth or Ashtoreth (singular form of Ashtaroth .representing 
the moon, which might be considered the fainter reflection or wife of the 
sun, and was, as the moon, addressed as " queen of heaven." Jeremiah 
vii. 18 Sayce. 

455. See Ezekiel viii. 14, " Then he brought me to the door of the 
gate of the Lord's house, . . . and behold, there sat women weeping f <r 
Tammuz." 



30 PARADISE LOST. 

In his own temple, on the grunsel-edge, * 6 ° 

Where he fell flat and shamed his worshippers : 

Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man 

And downward fish; yet had his temple high 

Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coast 

Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon, 465 

And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds. 

Him followed Rimmon, whose delightful seat 

Was fair Damascus, on the fertre banks 

Of Abana and Pharphar, lucid streams. 

He also against the house of God was bold : 47° 

A leper once he lost, and gained a king — 

Ahaz, his sottish conqueror, whom he drew 

God's altar to disparage and displace 

For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn 

His odious offerings, and adore the gods 475 

Whom he had vanquished. After these appeared 

A crew who, under names of old renown — 

Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train — 

With monstrous shapes and sorceries abused 

Fanatic Egypt and her priests to seek * 8 ° 

Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms 

Rather than human. Nor did Israel scape 

The infection, when their borrowed gold composed 

The calf in Oreb ; and the rebel king 

Doubled that sin in Bethel and in Dan, * 8 5 

Likening his Maker to the grazed ox — 

460. grunsel, i.e. groundsill or threshold. 

485. Jeroboam, King of Israel, who rebelled against Rehoboam, set up 
two golden calves. 



PARADISE LOST. 3 I 

Jehovah, who, in one night, when he passed 
From Egypt marching, equalled with one stroke 
Both her first-born and all her bleating gods. 
Belial came last ; than whom a Spirit more lewd 490 
Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love 
Vice for itself. To him no temple stood 
Or altar smoked ; yet who more oft than he 
In temples and at altars, when the priest 
Turns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled 495 

With lust and violence the house of God? 
In courts and palaces he also reigns, 
And in luxurious cities, where the noise 
Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers, 
And injury and outrage ; and, when night 500 

Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons 
Of Belial, flown with insolence and wine. 
Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night 
In Gibeah, when the hospitable door 
Exposed a matron, to avoid worse rape. 
These were the prime in order and in might : 
The rest were long to tell ; though far renowned, 
The Ionian gods of Javan's issue held 
Gods, yet confessed later than Heaven and Earth, 
Their boisted parents; — Titan, Heaven's first- 
born, 5 IG 

487-489 As the Israelites were on the point of leaving Egypt, a plague 
fell equally on the first-born of the Egyptians and on the animals which 
they worshipped 

495. See / Samuel ii. 12 and 22. 

508. Javan's issue, i.e. the Greeks, regarded as descended from Javau 
or Ion, son of Japhet. ( Genesis x. 2. Isaiah lxvi. 19.; 

510 Titan, see 198 n. 



32 PARADISE LOST. 

With his enormous brood, and birthright seized 

By younger Saturn : he from mightier Jove, 

His own and Rhea's son, like measure found ; 

So Jove usurping reigned. These, first in Crete 

And Ida known, thence on the snowy top 515 

Of cold Olympus ruled the middle air, 

Their highest Heaven ; or on the Delphian cliff, 

Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds 

Of Doric land ; or who with Saturn old 

Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields, 520 

And o'er the Celtic roamed the utmost isles. 

The leaders having assembled, Satan cheers them and 
bids Azazel raise the standard. 

All these and more came flocking ; but with looks 
Downcast and damp ; yet such wherein appeared 
Obscure some glimpse of joy to have found their 

Chief 
Not in despair, to have found themselves not lost 5 2 5 
In loss itself ; which on his countenance cast 
Like doubtful hue. But he, his wonted pride 

514-515. Ida, a mountain in Crete, and the birthplace of Zeus. 

515-516. Olympus, the fabled abode of the Greek gods, is a mountain 
in Thessaly; its highest point is covered with snow most of the year. 

517-518 Delphi, at the foot of the steep southern slope of Mount 
Parnassus; Doaona, in Epirus. These were the seats of the two most 
famous oracles of ancient Greece — of Apollo and Zeus respectively. 

520-521. Virgil and Ovid both speak of Saturn as fleeing alone (over 
the Hadriatic Sea) before his son Zeus, to Italy, called by the Greeks the 
Hesperian (or western fields. 

521. the Celtic (fields), the western or Celtic parts of the Continent, 
especially France 

(to) the utmost isles, probably Britain, etc. 
523. damp, depressed. Cp. "to damp a fire," "to damp one's spirits." 



PARADISE LOST. 33. 

Soon recollecting, with high words, th.it bore 
Semblance of worth, not substance, gently raised 
Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fears : 530 
Then straight commands that, at the warlike sound 
Of trumpets loud and clarions, be upreared 
His mighty standard. That proud honor claimed 
Azazel as his right, a Cherub tall : 
Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurled 535 
The imperial ensign ; which, full high advanced, 
Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind, 
With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed, 
Seraphic arms and trophies ; all the while 
Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds : 540 

At which the universal host upsent 
A shout that tore Hell's concave, and beyond 
Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night. 

Thereupon their follozvtrs form in battle array and 
march to Dorian music. 

All in a moment through the gloom was seen 

532. clarions, clear-sounding horns. 

534. Azazel, probably the name of some evil spirit. The word means 
"the solitary one," or "scape-goat." See Leviticus xvi. 8: "And 
Aaron shall ca<t lots upon the two g ats; one lot for the Lord and the 
other for'the scape-goat." (" Azazel," R.V. 

538. emblazed, richly adorned, like a shield. To blazon is to poitray 
armorial bearings on a shield. ( M . E. bt.ason,a. shield. Cp. v. 588: 
" Ensigns high advanced ... in their glittering tissue, bear emblazed 
holy memorials." The word is an heraldic term. 

539. arms, probably the ensign itse.f; trophies, gems and gold, re- 
garded as symbols of victory 

542. concave, hollow roof, or vault. 

543. Chaos, etc., see ii. 890-967. where Night is spoken of as "eldest 
of things." and " eldest Night and Chaos " as ancestors of Nature, because 
they preside over that out of which " things " are formed. 



34 PARADISE LOST. 

Ten thousand banners rise into the air, 545 

With orient colors waving with them rose 

A forest huge of spears ; and thronging helms 

Appeared, and serried shields in thick array 

Of depth immeasurable. Anon they move 

In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood 550 

Of flutes and soft recorders — such as raised 

To highth of noblest temper heroes old 

Arming to battle, and instead of rage 

Deliberate valor breathed, firm, and unmoved 

With dread of death to flight or foul retreat ; 555 

Nor wanting power to mitigate and swage 

With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase 

Anguish and doubt and fear and sorrow and pain 

From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they, 

Breathing united force with fixed thought, 560 

Moved on in silence to soft pipes that charmed 

546. orient, constantly used as an epithet of gems. It is frequently 
used by Milton in the sense of " bright," " clear," " shining." 

550. phalanx. " A body of troops in close array with a long spear as 
their principal weapon It was among the Dorians, and especially among 
the Spartans th t this arrangement was most rigidly adhered to " 
t Smith's Diet of Antiquities.) 

to the Dorian mood, i.e. to music of a grave, severe character, 
supposed to inspire courage and endurance, as disting wished from the 
Lydian or soothing, tender music (cp. L 1 Allegro, 139), and trumpet 
music 1,540-541). 

551 flutes and soft recorders. The modern flute is of recent German 
origin: the fiu'.e of Milton's day — the English flute — was calle 1 a 
recorder. As he is speaking of Greek music, the expression probably 
refers in general terms to the so-called flutes of the Greeks, which in- 
cluded reed instruments. They were of various sizes, and the different 
parts of the harmony — bass, tenor, etc — could be played on them. 

554. breathed, infused, inspired, instilled. 

556. mitigate, make soft, mild, less severe. 

561. charmed, in its old sense, denoting the effect of some mysterious 
power or influence — as here, fascinated by means of music. 



PARADISE LOST. 35 

Their painful steps o'er the burnt soil. And now 

Satan views his army, compared with whi h the greatest 
forces of ancient or mediceval times are insignificant. 

Advanced in view they stand — a horrid front 
Of dreadful length and dazzling arms, in guise 
Of warriors old, with ordered spear and shield, 565 
Awaiting what command their mighty Chief 
Had to impose. He through the armed files 
Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse 
The whole battalion views — their order due, 
Their visages and stature as of gods , 57° 

Their number last he sums. And now his heart 
Distends with pride, and, hardening in his strength, 
Glories : for never, since created Man, 
Met such embodied force as, named with these, 
Could merit more than that small infantry 
Warred on by cranes — thougn all the giant brood 
Of Phlegra with the heroic race were joined 
That fought at Thebes and Illium, on each side 

563. horrid, in its Latin sense, bristling (with spears \ Cp. " Horrid 
hair," ii. 710. 

575. in antry. In the middle ages, the cavalry were considered as 
forming the main body of the army; and the two terms " cavalry " and 
" army " were convertible. Cp. chivalry, 307. The foot-men or infantry 
were deemed little better than rabble (Trench) ; and probably the wo <1 is 
used in this contemptuous sense here. (Span, and It. infanta, a child, a 
servant, a foot-soldier. I 

The reference here is to the pygmies (cp. 780) a fabulous race whose 
stature was a " pngme' (about 13 1-2 in.) They are said by Homer to 
have been attacked by cranes every spring, and according to the legends 
they fought on the backs of rams and partridges. 

576-579. Phlegra, the westernmost of the three small peninsulas lying 
to the east of the Gulf of Salonica; the scene of the war between the 
gods and the giants. See 198. 



36 PARADISE LOST. 

Mixed with auxiliar gods ; and what resounds 
In fable or romance of Uther's son, 
Begirt with British and Armoric knights ; 
And all who since, baptized or infidel, 
Jousted in Aspramont or Montalban, 
Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond, 
Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore, 



Thebes and Ilium. " The heroic race that fought at Thebes 
and Ilium " symbolizes the great heroes of Greek literature and legendary 
history. 

The story of the exploits of The Seven Greeks) against Thebes is told 
by Aeschylus, the story of the Trojan war by Homer. 

Troy in N. W. Asia Minor. 

Thebes in Boeotia. 

auxiliar gods refers to the part taken by the deities in the 
siege of Troy 

579-581. Uther's or Uther Pendragon's) son, i. c. King Arthur, 
assisted by knights of Britain and of Brittany. For some time about 
1038-39) Milton had thought of taking the Arthurian legends as the sub- 
ject of his great poem. 

582-587. Jousted, tilted; joust, literally, is the jostling together of 
two knights on horseback at a tournament. 

583-584. The names in these lines are said by some critics to have 
been taken by Milton at random; but Mr Verity holds that each one was 
carefully selected for its associations with the mediaeval romances of 
chivalry, by which Milton in his youth had been greatly attracted. 

The names are in any case symbolical, like Thebes and Ilium above; at 
the same time some of them may be connected with particular events. 

Aspramont, a castle near Nice. | A „ familiar nameg Jn the Q , d 

rnasco, [ romances, and specially associated 

Trebisond, a town of great note C Wlth tournaments and Jousts . 
and splendor in the middle ages. J 

Damasco was also the scene of several battles in the Crusades. 

Montalban, a castle in Languedoc, of note in the wars of Charlemagne. 

Marocco, Biserta, associated with the wars between the Christians 
< Spaniards) and the Moors. From Biserta (the ancient Utica, near 
Carthage) a Moorish army started to attack the Christians under Charle- 
magne in Spain; the defeit, h iwever, was inflicted, not by the Moors, but 
by the Gascons at Roncesvalles, "by Fontarabbia," near Biarritz. 
(Charlemagne was not killed in the battle of 778: he lived till 814.) 



PARADISE LOST. 37 

When Charlemain with all his peerage fell 
By Fontarabbia. Thus far these beyond 
Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed 

7 he appearance of Satan and his host suggested by 
various similes. 

Their dread Commander. He above the rest 
In shape and gesture proudly eminent, 590 

Stood like a tower. His form had yet not lost 
All her original brightness, nor appeared 
Less than archangel ruined, and the excess 
Of glory obscured : as when the sun new-risen 
Looks through the horizontal misty air 595 

Shorn of his beams, or, from behind the moon, 
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds 
On half the nations, and with fear of change 
Perplexes monarchs. Darkened so, yet shone 
Above them all the Archangel ; but his face 
Deep scars of thunder had intrenched, and care 
Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows 
Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride 
Waiting revenge. Cruel his eye, but cast 
Signs of remorse and passion, to behold 



I ,<",< , 



605 



586. all his peerage, i.e. the brave Roland, the wise Oliver, and all the 
rest of the twelve peers or paladii s of France —except perhaps one. 

502-593. " Nor did it appear less (noble and commanding) than thatof 
an archangel who was now fallen and his excessive brightness dimmed." 

597"5 9- disastrous, unfavorable, of bad omen. 

601. intrenched, marked, furrowed, cut into. 

603. considerate, meditating revengel planning, scheming. 

604. " His eye was cruel, but showed," etc. 

605. Passion, suffering, sorrow : not, as now, strong: feeling only. 



38 PARADISE LOST. 

The fellows of his crime, the followers rather 
(Far other once beheld in bliss), condemned 
For over now to have their lot in pain — 
Millions of Spirits for his fault amerced 
Of Heaven, and from eternal splendors flung 6l ° 
For his revolt — yet faithful how they stood, 
Their glory withered ; as, when Heaven's fire 
Hath scathed the forest oaks or mountain pines, 
With singed top their stately growth, though bare, 
Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared ' : " 
To speak ; whereat their doubled ranks they bend 
From wing to wing, and half enclose him round 
With all his peers : attention held them mute. 
Thrice he assayed, and thrice, in spite of scorn, 
Tears, such as Angels weep, burst forth ; at last 62 ° 
Words interwove with sighs found out their wav : — 

Satan harangues his host: " their defeat was due to igno'an<e 
of the enemy 's strength." 

" O myriads of immortal Spirits ! O Powers 
Matchless, but with the Almighty ! — and that strife 
Was not inglorious, though the event was dire, 
As this place testifies, and this dire change 62 5 

Hateful to utter. But what power of mind, 
Foreseeing or presaging from the depth 
Of knowledge past or present, could have feared, 
How such united force of gods, hov. such 
As stood like these, could ever know repulse ? 6 3° 

609. amerced, deprived (by way of fine or punishment). 
619. in spite of scorn, though scorning to weep. 



PARADISE LOST. 39 

For who can yet believe, though after loss, 

That all these puissant legions, whose exile 

Hath emptied Heaven, shall fail to reascend, 

Self-raised, and repossess their native seat? 

For me, be witness all the host of Heaven, 

If counsels different, or dangers shunned 

By me, have lost our hopes. But he who reigns 

Monarch in Heaven till then as one secure 

Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute, 

Consent or custom, and his regal state 6 *° 

Put forth at full, but still his strength concealed — 

Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. 

Henceforth they must < ppose h>m by guile ; a visit to the 
new -fornix d 7v >rld suggested ; war resolved on. 

Henceforth his might we know, and know our own, 

So as not either to provoke, or dread 

New war provoked : our better part remains 6 *~> 

To work in close design, by fraud or guile, 

Whit force effected not; that he no less 

At length from us may find, who overcomes 

By force hath overcome but half his foe. 

Space may produce new worlds ; whereof so rife 6 s° 

There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long 

Intended to create, and therein plant 

A generation whom his choice regard 

Should favor equal to the sons of Heaven. 

636. counsels different (from those of the rest), " divided counsels." 
643-645. our better part: " henceforth our safest course is," etc. 
650-651. so rife . . . fame so general a rumor. 



40 PARADISE LOST. 

Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps 6 55 

Our first eruption — thither, or elsewhere ; 
For this infernal pit shall never hold 
Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor the Abyss 
Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts 
Full counsel must mature. Peace is despaired ; 66 ° 
For who can think submission ? War, then, war 
Open or understood, must be resolved." 

He spake ; and, to confirm his words, out-flew 
Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs 
Of mighty Cherubim ; the sudden blaze 66 s 

Far round illumined Hell. Highly they raged 
Against the Highest, and fierce with grasped nrms 
Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war 
Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven. 

Led by Mammon they quarry gold and cast it, ready /or 
use in building rheir palace. 

There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top 6 7° 
Belched fire and rolling smoke ; the rest entire 
Shone with a glossy scurf — undoubted sign 

656. eruption, sortie, expedition : lit. " outbreak." 

660-662. despaired, resolved : cp. 208 and note. 

662. understood — among ourselves. 

668 This was the custom of Roman soldiers when applauding a gen- 
eral's speech. Note the expressiveness of this line through the repetition 
of the notion of sound in the words cla hed ', sounding and din. Cp 768. 

670. grisly, horrible, hideous. Cp. ii. 704. 

671. the rest entire, " all the rest." 

672-674. the work of sulphur. According to the alchemists, sulphur 
'understood hs a vague " principal of fixation," not the substance we call 
sulphur was the chief agent in the formation of metals by its action on 
" earth," on the " seeds of metals," etc. The phrase, work of sulphur, 
refers to the metal either in the earth as metallic ore) or cropping out 
(as a sulphide) in flakes on the surface (glossy scurf). 



PARADISE LOST. 4 1 

That in his womb was hid metallic ore, 
The work of sulphur. Thither, winged with speed, 
A numerous brigad hastened : as when bands 6 75 
Of pioneers, with spade and pickaxe armed, 
Forerun the royal camp, to trench a field, 
Or cast a rampart. Mammcn led them on — 
Mammon, the least erected Spirit that fell 
From Heaven ; for even in Heaven his looks and 
thoughts 68 ° 

Were always downward bent, admiring more 
The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold, 
Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed 
In vision beatific. By him first 
Men also, and by his suggestion taught, 68 s 

Ransacked the centre, and with impious hands 
Rifled the bowels of their mother Earth 
For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew 
Opened into the hill a spacious wound, 
And digged out ribs of gold. Let none admire 6 9° 
That ric.ies grow in Hell ; that soil may best 

675. brigad, brigade. 

676. pioneers. Pioneers clear the way for an army by making roads, 
etc. 

678. Mammon (Syriac , riches, here used as a proper noun (like 
Belial, 49)). 

679. erected, high-minded, upright, noble. 

682. Revelation xxi. 21. 

684. vision beatific, a phrase used by early Christian writers to de- 
note the " sight of God," for which they hoped, and which was to give 
them perfect happiness. Cp. Matthew v. 8. 

688. For treasures better hid, i.e. for gold, better left undisturbed. 

690. admire, wonder. Cp. ii. 677-678. 



42 PARADISE LOST. 

Deserve the precious bane. And here let those 
Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell 
Of Babel, and the works of Memphian kings, 
Learn how their greatest monuments of fame, 6 95 
And strength, and art, are easily outdone 
By Spirits reprobate, and in an hour 
What in an age they, with incessant toil 
And hands innumerable, scarce perform. 
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared, 7°° 

That underneath had veins of liquid fire 
Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude 
With wondrous art founded the massy ore, 
Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion-dross. 
A third as soon had formed within the ground ?°5 
A various mould, and from the boiling cells 
By strange conveyance filled each hollow nook ; 

-694. Babel, probably Babylon, noted for its vast walls, its hanging 
gardens, and the Temple of Kelus (720 . 

Memphian, Egyptian, as in 307, from Memphis, the ancient 
capital Egypt was famous for its pyramids a d for its temples of Serapis 
720 . In 1. 718 the new city of Memphis is mentio .ed under the name 
A Icairo, the modern Cairo. Probably in the latter passage there is a 
repetition of 11112694 under different nanes Note that in the second 
passage Milton uses the more modern names, perhaps to suggest different 
aspects of the ci'ies. But possibly Babel denotes the tower of Babel, and 
Memphian may be used in a much wider sense than Alcairo. 

698-669. Herodotus tells us that there were 366,000 men employed for 
twenty years in the building of the Great Pyramid. 

702. Sluiced A sluice is a sliding gate for regulating the flow of a 
,i [uid. 

703 founded, melted. The process of purifying is now called smelt- 
in • ; vfhertrSisfounnng 705-707) denotes a later and final melting and 
mouldi ig of the metal 

704. bullion refers to the unpurified metal ore. 

dross, the impurities in the ore which float on the surface of the 
molten metal, forming a scum; so that the bullion-dross is the scum that 
comes from the bullion. 



PARADISE LOST. 43 

As in an organ, from one blast of wind, 

To many a row of pipes the sound- board breathes. 

Pandemonium described: its architect \ Mulciber. 
Anon out of the earth a fabric huge 710 

Rose, like an exhalation, with the sound 
Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet — 
Built like a temple, where pilasters round 
Were set, and Doric pillars overlaid 
With golden architrave ; nor did there want 715 

Cornice or frieze with bossy sculptures graven : 
The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon 
Nor great Alcairo such magnificence 
Equalled in all their glories, to enshrine 
Belus or Serapis their gods, or seat 720 

Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove 

706. various, elaborate, intricate; e.g. the frieze and the roof (706- 
707) would require such mouldings. 

708-709. All the pipes in an organ are supplied with wind from a wind- 
chest, of which the sound-board forms the upper part. 

712. dulcet symphonies, sweet accompanying chords or strains (on 
instruments . 

7 3-7 1 ? like a temple. In Greece and in Asia Minor there w re 
many temples, mostly Lone, and their rows of pillars formed a conspicu- 
ous feature. 

713. pilasters, square pillars partly sunk in a wall. 

714. Doric Pillars, round pillar of a massive, simple style, with plain 
capital Cp. note on ''Dorian mo d," 550. The other two orders of 
pillars are Ionic — flute I, with voluted capitals; and Corinthian — lighter 
columns, with highly ornamented capitals.) 

71 -. Architrave The beam or stonework which rests immediately 
on the top of a row < f pillars; above it is an ornament called the frieze, 
and above that a projecting part, called the cornice. Architrave means 
chief beam. 

716. bossy, standing out prominently. 

717-720. See 694 «. 



44 PARADISE LOST. 

In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile 

Stood fixed her stately highth ; and straight the 

doors, 
Opening their brazen folds, discover, wide 
Within, her ample spaces o'er the smooth 
And level pavement : from the arched roof, 
Pendant by subtle magic, many a row 
Of starry lamps and blazing cressets, fed 
With naphtha and asphaltus, yielded light 
As from a sky. The hasty multitude 
Admiring entered ; and the work some praise, 
And some the architect. His hand was known 
In Heaven by many a towered structure high, 
Where sceptered Angels held their residence, 
And sat as princes, whom the supreme King 735 
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, 
Each in his Hierarchy, the Orders bright. 
Nor was his name unheard or unadored 
In ancient Greece ; and in Ausonian land 
Men called him Mulciber ; and how he fell 740 

From Heaven they fabled, thrown by angry Jove 

728. A cresset was a lamp consisting of a small, open, iron cage or 
vessel, in which was placed rope or tow steeped in pitch, etc It was 
usually carried hanging from the top of a pole. 

737. In the middle ages it was supposed that the angels were of two 
kinds, Cherubim and Seraphim, or angels of light and angels of love, 
divided into three groups or Hierarchies, each consisting of three Orders 

739 Ausonian land, Italy; from Ausonia, an ancient name for central 
Italy. 

740. Mulciber, the softener, the metal-founder. Another name for 
Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. In Greece he was called Hephaestus. 
He was smith and armorer to the gods of Olympus, and was represented 
as lame. 



PARADISE LOST. 45 

Sheer o'er the crystal battlements : from morn 
To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, 
A summer's day, and with the setting sun 
Dropped from the zenith, like a falling star, 745 

On Lemnos, the ^Egean isle. Thus they relate, 
Erring ; for he with this rebellious rout 
Fell long before ; nor aught availed him now 
To have built in Heaven high towers ; nor did he 

scape 
By all his engines, but was headlong sent, 750 

With his industrious crew, to build in Hell. 

" 7Vie worthiest''' 1 summoned to a council, they and their 

attendants swarm in, and Jill the hall " both on the ground 
and in the air.% 

Meanwhile the winged heralds, by command 
Of sovran power, with awful ceremony 
And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim 
A solemn council forthwith to be held 755 

At Pandemonium, the high capital 
Of Satan and his peers. Their summons called 
From every band and squared regiment 
By place or choice the worthiest : they anon 
With hundreds and with thousands trooping came 7 6 ° 

746. Hence this island was sacred to Hephaestus, and here he had his 
forge ! 

750. engines, contrivances, ingenuity. Cp. Ben Jonson: " Sejanus 
worketh with all his ingine." 

753. sovran. See 246 «. 

aweful, awe-inspiring. 

756. Pandemonium, the palace (or temple) " of all the demons." 
Cp. Pantheon, a Roman temple to all the gods. 



46 PARADISE LOST. 

Attended. All access was thronged ; the gates 
And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall 
(Though like a covered field, where champions bold 
Wont ride in armed, and at the Soldan's chair 
Defied the best of Panim chivalry 765 

To mortal combat, or career with lance), 
Thick swarmed, both on the ground and in the air, 
Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees 
In spring-time, when the sun with Taurus rides, 
Pour forth their populous youth about the hive ?7° 
In clusters ; they among fresh dews and flowers 
Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, 
The suburb of their straw-built citadel, 
New rubbed with balm, expatiate, and confer 
Their state affairs : so thick the aery crowd 
Swarmed and were straitened ; till, the signal given, 

The followers, at a signal, all contract : the leaders hold a 
council. 

Behoid a wonder ! They, but now who seemed 
In bigness to surpass Earth's giant sons, 

764. soldan's, sultan's. 

765. Panim, belonging to a Pagan or heathen country. 

766. career, the galloping of the combatants towards one another along 
the course. Note the two I inds of combat referred to; in the second the 
points of the lances were blunted. 

769. In April the sun traverses that part of the sky in which the con- 
stellation Taurus is situated. 

773. citadel, a little city — not a fort here. 

974. balm, balsam; used by Milton for any fragrant resin or gum. 

expatiate, spread out. 

confer, discuss. 
776. straitened, crowded close together for want of space. 



PARADISE LOST. 4 7 

Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room 

Throng numberless — like that pygmean race 780 

Beyond the Indian mount ; or faery elves, 

Whose midnight revels, by a forest side, 

Or fountain, some belated peasant sees, 

Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon 

Sits arbitress, and nearer to the Earth 

Wheels her pale course : they, on their mirth and 

dance 
Intent, with jocund music charm his ear; 
At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. 
Thus incorporeal Spirits to smallest forms 
Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large, ?9<= 
Though without number still, amidst the hall 
Of that infernal court. But far within, 
And in their own dimensions like themselves, 
The great Seraphic Lords and Cherubim 
In close recess and secret conclave sat, 
A thousand demigods on golden seats, 
Frequent and full. After short silence then, 
And summons read, the great consult began. 

780. pygmean race. See 575 n. 

781. Indian mount, the Himalayas. 

785. arbitress, witness, spectator. 

nearer to the earth. Fairies, witches, etc., were supposed to be 
able to draw the moon down towards the earth by their enchantments. 

795. recess, retirement, or, a retired place. 

conclave, assembly. This is the name specially applied to the 
secret meeting of cardinals at Rome when a pope is to be elected. 

797. frequent, numerous, crowded; qualifying conclave. 

798. consult, consultation. 



PARADISE LOST. 

BOOK II. 



The Argument. 

The consultation begun, Satan debates, whether another 
battle be to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven : some 
advise it, others dissuade. A third proposal is preferred, 
mentioned before by Satan, to search the truth of that 
prophecy or tradition in Heaven concerning another world, 
and an other kind of creature equal or not much inferior to them- 
selves, about this time to be created : their doubt who shall be 
sent on this difficult search. Satan, their chief, undertakes 
alone the voyage, is honored and applauded. The council 
thus ended, the rest betake them several ways and to several 
employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the 
time till Satan return. He passes on his journey to Hell- 
gates; finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them, by 
whom at length they are opened, and discover to him the 
great gulf between Hell and Heaven: with what difficulty he 
passes through, directed by Chaos, the Power of that place, to 
the sight of this new world which he sought. 



48 



BOOK II. 

The council opened by Satan: " We are united, and con- 
fident of our pozver; how can we best regain Heaven? " 

High on a throne of royal state, which far 
Outshone the wealth of Ormus and of Ind, 
Or where the gorgeous East with richest hand 
Showers on her kings barbaric pearl and gold, 
Satan exalted sat, by merit raised 
To that bad eminence ; and, from despair 
Thus high uplifted beyond hope, aspires 
Beyond thus high, insatiate to pursue 
Vain war with Heaven, and, by success untaught, 
His proud imaginations thus displayed : — 

" Powers and Dominions, Deities of Heaven ! — 

2. Ormus, on an island in the Persian Gulf, was at this time famous as 
a great and wealthy trading centre, being specially renowned for jewels. 
Ind, India. 

4. Showers, etc. It was an Eastern custom to powder a monarch, at 
his coronation, with gold-dust and seed-pearl, and to strew pearls and 
jewels at his feet. 

9. success, the result, namely — failure, defeat. 

11. Powers, etc. In the middle ages it was supposed that the angels 
were of two kinds, Cherubim and Seraphim 1 or angels of light and angels 
of love , divided into three grades: Archangels or Chiefs, e.g. Michael, 
Raphael, and Lucifer — afterwards Satan ; Princes of various degrees, e.g. 
Beezlebub, Man mon, Belial; and individual Powers and Intel lgences. 
According to another scheme, however, there were three Hierarchies, each 
consisting of three Orders: 1) Seraphim. Cherubim, and Thrones; (2) 
Dominations, Virtue-, and Powers; 3 Principalities. Archangels, and 
Angels. The matter is of little importance as regards this poem, for Milton 
seems to use the titles at random. 

49 



5<D PARADISE LOST. 

For, since no deep within her gulf can hold 
Immortal vigor, though oppressed and fallen, 
I give not Heaven for lost : from this descent 
Celestial Virtues rising will appear *5 

More glorious and more dread than from no fall, 
And trust themselves to fear no second fate ! — 
Me though just right, and the fixed laws of Heaven, 
Did first create your leader, next, free choice, 
With what besides, in council or in fight, 2 ° 

Hath been achieved of merit, yet this loss, 
Thus far at least reco/ered, hath much more 
Established in a safe unenvied throne, 
Yielded with full consent. The happier state 
In Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw 
Envy from each inferior ; but who here 
Will envy whom the highest place exposes 
Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim 
Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share 
Of endless pain? Where there is then no good 30 
For which to strive, no strife can grow up there 

12. deep, Chaos. 

gulf, the lowest part of Chaos, called also the " pit," " Hell," etc. 
See Introduction. 

19 free choice. He had been accepted, if not chosen (1. 24V His 
leadership seems to have been taken as a matter of course so far, but to 
judge by this speech, Satan himself was far from feeling secure. Note how 
skilfully he ma*es use of the assumption in 1. n; that granted, the l.tws of 
Heaven will have more force, which will strengthen his position ;<s their 
(natural) head We shall see in the speeches following indications of an 
independent spirit amongst the leaders. 

1 1-42. Satan's speech. 

(1) W T hy will the spirits appear " more glorious," etc., after rising? 

(1 l6 - 
(2 Note how anxious Satan is to keep his position as chief, whilst he 

is showing what an unenviable post it is. 
(3) Note how he ignores all possibility of failure or greater punishment. 



PARADISE LOST. 5 I 

From faction ; for none sure will claim in Hell 
Precedence : none whose portion is so small 
Of present pain that with ambitious mind 
Will covet more. With this advantage, then, 35 
To union, and firm faith, and firm accord, 
More than can be in Heaven, we now return 
To claim our just inheritance of old ; 
Surer to prosper than prosperity- 
Could have assured us ; and, by what best way, *° 
Whether of open war or covert guile, 
We now debate ; who can advise may speak." 

He ceased ; and next him Moloch, sceptered king, 
Stood up : the strongest and the fiercest spirit 
That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair. 45 
His trust was with the Eternal to be deemed 
Equal in strength, and rather than be less 
Cared not to be at all. With that care lost 
Went all his fear; of God, or Hell, or worse, 
He recked not, and these words thereafter 
spake : — 50 

Moloch's speech: "I vote for war forthwith; even if we fail 
our lot cannot become worse." 

" My sentence is for open war. Of wiles, 
More unexpert, I boast not ; them let those 
Contrive who need, or when they need, not now. 



43-45. Moloch {i e. king or ruler 1 is specially mentioned in the war in 
Heaven, where he is called " furious king" (bk. vi ), and he was the first 
of the leaders to come up and greet Satan (and Beelzebub after the fall 
(i. 392)- 

51-52. sentence, vote. 



52 PARADISE LOST. 

For, while they sit contriving, shall the rest — 

Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait 55 

The signal to ascend — sit lingering here, 

Heaven's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place 

Accept this dark, opprobrious den of shame, 

The prison of his tyranny who reigns 

By our delay? No ! let us rather choose, 6o 

Armed with Hell-flames and fury, all at once 

O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless way, 

Turning our tortures into horrid arms 

Ag inst the Torturer ; when, to meet the noise 

Of his almighty engine, he shall hear 6 5 

Infernal thunder, and, for lightning, see 

Black fire and horror shot with equal rage 

Among his Angels, and his throne itself 

Mixed with Tartarean sulphur and strange fire, 

His own invented torments. But perhaps 7° 

The way seems difficult and steep to scale 

With upright wing against a higher foe. 

Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench 

54-56 stand in arms, probably, " are ready armed." Stand and sit 
must not be taken literally, for the numberless spirits who were waiting in 
the Hall of the Palace swarmed " both on the ground and in the air." 

65. almighty engine. For description see vi 749-766. The term 
engine is applied to any mechanical contrivance, as to Satan's cannon. 
Cp. also i. 750. 

67. Black fire and horror, for " black horrid fire." 

69. Tartarean, from Tartarus, part of the classical hell. 

72. wing, course or flight. 

73. ' drench, draught, that which drenches or soaks. 



PARADISE LOST. 53 

Of that forgetful lake benumb not still, 
That in our proper motion we ascend 
Up to our native seat ; descent and fall 
To us is adverse. Who but felt of late, 
When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear 
Insulting, and pursued us through the Deep, 
With what compulsion and laborious flight 
We sunk thus low? The ascent is easy, then ; 
The event is feared ! Should we again provoke 
Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find 
To our destruction, if there be in Hell 
Fear to be worse destroyed ! What can be worse 8s 
Than to dwell here, driven out from bliss, con- 
demned 
In this abhorred Deep to utter woe ; 
Where pain of unextinguishable fire 
Must exercise us without hope of end, 
The vassals of his anger, when the scourge 
Inexorably, and the torturing hour, 
Calls us to penance? More destroyed than thus 
We should be quite abolished, and expire. 

74. forgetful. This word must be taWen in a limited sense, for we fiad 
that after their nine days stup r on (-r in) the " oblivious pool" (1. 266), 
they could recall the past Indeed, th? memory of the past seems to be 
intended as part of their punishment vi. 717, 718). Hence this lake cor- 
responds only slightly to the classical Lethe, though the names applied to 
it constantly suggest the latter. 

82. event, result, consequence. 

83. Our stronger — foe; cp. 406, 409. 

89. exercise, constantly torment, afflict. 

without hope, etc. Cp. Belial's speech, 1 209, etc. 

90. vassals, slaves. 

92. penance, punishment. 



54 PARADISE LOST. 

What fear we then ? What doubt we to incense 

His utmost ire ? which, to the highth enraged, 95 

Will either quite consume us, and reduce 

To nothing this essential — happier far 

Than miserable to have eternal being ! — 

Or if our substance be indeed divine, 

And cannot cease to be, we are at worst IO ° 

On this side nothing ; and by proof we feel 

Our power sufficient to disturb his Heaven, 

And with perpetual inroads to alarm, 

Though inaccessible, his fatal throne ; 

Which, if not victory, is yet revenge." io s 

He ended frowning, and his look denounced 
Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous 
To less than gods. On the other side up rose 
Belial, in act more graceful and humane ; 

94. "What doubt we, " why should we hesitate to provoke ? " etc. 
97. essential, essence, being. 

104. fatal, secured by fate: cp. i. 116, 133. By fate the rebels meant 
necessity; the nature < f things and course of events regarded as unalter- 
able and beyond th; power of the Almighty. Cp. I97-199 and 232; and 
contrast vii. 172, where the Almighty says — 

" Necessity and Chance, 
Approach not me; and what I will is Fate." 
See note on 895-913. 
51-105. Moloch's speech. 

(1) Note its abruptness; that Moloch speaks first (after Satan) ; has 
already made up his mind; sneers at those who differ from him; 
and dues not address the assembly by name. (Cp. Satan's 
opening, Belial's, and Beelzebub's ) 

105. The speech ends forcibly wiih the strong and characteristic word 
" revenge," pronounced, no doubt, in a loud voice, and emphasized with a 
terrible frown. Milton makes a fine contrast between the undisguised 
ferocity with which Moloch ends his speech, and the graceful uprising of 
the next speaker. 

106. denounced, signified in a threatening manner. 

109 Belial. Cp. i. 490-505. Note the contrast between him and 
Moloch. 

humane, of polished manners. (Now it means pitiful, kind.) 



PARADISE LOST. 55 

A fairer person lost not Heaven ; he seemed IIQ 

For dignity composed and high exploit. 

But all was false and hollow ; though his tongue 

Dropt manna, and could make the worse appear 

The better reason, to perplex and d^sh 

Maturest counsels : for his thoughts were low — ri 5 

To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds 

Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear, 

And with persuasive accent thus began : — 

BeliaVs speech: " Better bear our present ills than risk 
worse" 

" I should be much for open war, O Peers, 
As not behind in hate, if what was urged I2 ° 

Main reason to persuade immediate war 
Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast 
Ominous conjecture on the whole success ; 
When he who most excels in fact of arms, 
In what he counsels and in what excels I2 5 

Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair 
And utter dissolution, as the scope 
Of all his aim, after some dire revenge. 
First, what revenge? The towers of Heaven are 
filled 



113. Dropt manna Cp. Homer's phrase, " Speech softer than honey." 
Manna tasted " like wafers made with honey "; Exodus, xvi. 31. 

113-114. made the worse . . . reason. This is called sophistry. 

124. fact, same as/eat 

127. scope. This difficult word seems to refer to the range of Moloch's 
hopes — from present misery, relieved by revenge, to " utter dissolution " 
as the worst that can befall them. 



56 PARADISE LOST. 

With arm£d watch, that render all access J 3° 

Impregnable ; oft on the bordering Deep 

Encamp their legions, or with obscure wing 

Scout far and wide into the realm of Night, 

Scorning surprise. Or could we break our way 

By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise T 35 

With blackest insurrection, to confound 

Heaven's purest light, yet our great enemy, 

All incorruptible, would on his throne 

Sit unpolluted, and the ethereal mould, 

Incapable of stain, would soon expel x 4° 

Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire, 

Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope 

Is flat despair : we must exasperate 

The almighty victor to spend all his rage ; 

And that must end us ; that must be our cure — r 4S 

To be no more. Sad cure ! for who would lose, 

Though full of pain, this intellectual being, 

Those thoughts that wander through eternity, 

To perish rather, swallowed up and lost 

In the wide womb of uncreated Night, l '=° 

Devoid of sense and motion ? And who knows, 

130. access, approach. 

139. ethereal mould, the heavenly substance of which the angelic 
beings were formed, namely, fi re, as the purest of the four elements. It 
is also called empyreal substance K i. 117 , and Heaven is the Empyrean. 

134-14.2. It should be noticed how closely Beli:>l's reply follows the 
arguments t f the preceding speech. Lines 134-142, 145-151, 159-185 re- 
spectively answer 11 60-70, 97-98, 85-93. The only important part of 
Moloch's speech which remains unanswered is the argument to show that 
the fallen angels could easily rise upwards (see 11. 70-81). But Belial is 
not bound to answer this, as he shows that even though they rose to heaven 
they could not surprise its impregnable towers, and would be inevitably 
defeated 



PARADISE LOST. 57 

Let this be good, whether our angry foe 

Can give it, or will ever? How he can, 

Is doubtful ; that he never will is sure. 

Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire, x 55 

Belike through impotence or unaware, 

To give his enemies their wish, and end 

Them in his anger, whom his anger saves 

To punish endless ! ' Wherefore cease we then ? ' 

Say they who counsel war; ' we are decreed, l6 ° 

Reserved, and destined to eternal woe : 

Whatever doing, what can we suffer more, 

What can we suffer worse? ' Is this then worst — 

Thus sitting, thus consulting, thus in arms? 

Wh. t when we fled amain, pursued, and strook l6 s 

With Heaven's afflicting thunder, and besought 

The Deep to shelter us? This Hell then seemed 

A refuge from those wounds. Or when we lay 

Chained on the burning lake ? That sure was worse. 

What if the breath that kindled those grim fires, x 7° 

Awaked, should blow them into sevenfold rage, 

And plunge us in the flames? or from above 

Should intermitted vengeance arm again 

His red right hand to plague us? What if all 

Her stores were opened, and this firmament J 7S 

Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire, 

Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall 

156. Belike, indeed, forsooth. Ironical 

impotence, inabi ity to restrain his anger.) 
165. amain, in large numbers and with haste. (Lit., "with force."] 

strook, siruck. 
177. Impendent, overhanging. 



58 PARADISE LOST. 

One day upon our heads ; while we perhaps, 
Designing or exhorting glorious war, 
Caught in a fiery tempest, shall be hurled, l8 ° 

Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey 
Of racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk 
Under yon boiling ocean, wrapt in chains, 
There to converse with everlasting groans, 
Unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved, l8 s 

Ages of hopeless end? This would be worse. 
War therefore, open or concealed, alike 
My voice dissuades ; for what can force or guile 
With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye 
Views all things at one view? He from Heaven's 

highth 1 ^> 

All these our motions vain sees and derides, — 
Not more almighty to resist our might 
Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles. 
Shall we then live thus vile, — the race of Heaveu 
Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here J 95 

Chains and these torments? Better these than 

worse, 
By my advice ; since fate inevitable 
Subdues us, and omnipotent decree, 

182. racking, harassing, distressing. 

187. So far Belial has been answering Moloch's arguments. He now 
treats the more general question of debate introduced by Satan. Cf. 11. 
187, 188 with 1. 41. 

196 Better these than worse, it is better to endure these than worse 
torments Belial acts upon the principle expressed i Hamlet's soliloquy, 
where it is said that the dread of something afier death 

" Makes us rather bear those ills we have 
Than fly to others that we know not oi." 



PARADISE LOST. 59 

The victor's will. To suffer, as to do, 

Our strength is equal, nor the law unjust 2 °° 

That so ordains : this was at first resolved, 

If we were wise, against so great a foe 

Contending, and so doubtful what might fall. 

I laugh, when those who at the spear are bold 

And venturous, if that fail them, shrink, and fear 2 °5 

What yet they know must follow — to endure 

Exile, or ignominy, or bonds, or pain, 

The sentence of their conqueror. This is now 

Our doom ; which if we can sustain and bear, 

Our supreme foe in time may much remit 2I ° 

His anger, and perhaps, thus far removed, 

Not mind us not offending, satisfied 

With what is punished ; whence these raging fires 

Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames. 

Our purer essence then will overcome 2I 5 

Their noxious vapor ; or, inured, not feel ; 

Or, changed at length, and to the place conformed 

In temper and in nature, will receive 

Familiar the fierce heat, and void of pain ; 

This horror will grow mild, this darkness light ; 22 ° 

Besides what hope the never-ending flight 

Of future days may bring, what chance, what change 

Worth waiting, since our present lot appears 



201. This was at first resolved. Belial means that, when they 
entered upon their perilous attempt, they surely foresaw the possibility of 
terrible punishment, and deliberately with their eyes open resolved to run 
the risk. By the words " if we were wise " he implies that, if they did not 
see all this clearly, they were very stupid. 

213. what is punished, the amount of punishment inflicted. 



60 PARADISE LOST. 

For happy though but ill, for ill not worst, 
If we procure not to ourselves more woe." 22 s 

Thus Belial, with words clothed in reason's garb, 
Counselled ignoble ease, and peaceful sloth, 
Not peace : and after him thus Mammon spake : — 

Mammon's speech: " Let us give tip all thought of returning 
t) Heaven, and make the best of our present lot, which 
may become easier in time.'''' 

" Either to disenthrone the King of Heaven 
We war, if war be best, or to regain 2 3° 

Our own right lost. Him to unthrone we then 
May hope, when everlasting Fate shall yield 
To fickle Chance, and Chaos judge the strife. 
The former, vain to hope, argues as vain 
The latter : for what place can be for us 2 35 

Within Heaven's bound, unless Heaven's Lord 

supreme 
We overpower? Suppose he should relent, 
And publish grace to all, on promise made 
Of new subjection ; with what eyes could we 
Stand in his presence humble, and receive 24 ° 

Strict laws imposed, to celebrate his throne 
With warbled hymns, and to his Godhead sing 



228. Not peace This seems strange at first sight, seeing that Belial was 
entirely opposed to war, admitted the justice of their doom 200, 201J , and 
urged patient submission thereto. He made no acknowledgment, however, 
of sinful, but only of unwise action? (11. 201-203 > suggested that they 
should merely offend no further, not that they should confess their wrong, 
a»k forgiveness, and so become reconciled He assumed that they would 
maintain their hostile attitude until the Almighty chose to relent. His 
counsel then was to continue in their present antagonism. 

Mammon, the least noble of the " spiriis that fell." See i. 678-688. 



PARADISE LOST. 6 I 

Forced Halleluiahs ; while he lordly sits 

Our envied sovran, and his altar breathes 

Ambrosial odors and ambrosial flowers, 24 " 

Our servile offerings? This must be our task 

In Heaven, this our delight. How wearisome 

Eternity so spent in worship paid 

To whom we hate ! Let us not then pursue, 

By force impossible, by leave obtained 

Unacceptable, though in Heaven, our state 

Of splendid vassalage ; but rather seek 

Our own good from ourselves, and from our own 

Live to ourselves, though in this vast recess, 

Free and to none accountable, preferring 2 ss 

Hard liberty before the easy yoke 

Of servile pomp. Our greatness will appear 

Then most conspicuous, when great things ot small, 

Useful of hurtful, prosperous of adverse, 

We can create, and in what place soe'er 26 ° 

Thrive under evil, and work ease out of pain 

Through labor and endurance. This deep world 

Of darkness do we dread ? How oft amidst 

Thick clouds and dark doth Heaven's all-ruling Sire 

Choose to reside, his glory unobscured, 

And with the majesty of darkness round 

Covers his throne, from whence deep thunders roar 

243 Halleluiahs, from halclu, praise ye, and J ah, Jehovah. 

245. Ambrosial, fragrant; lit. divine, from Gk. ambrosia, the food of 
the gods. A favorite word with Milton. 

253. from our own — resources, labor, skill, etc., as explained below. 

263-267. Psalm xviii n, 13, and xcvii. 2. 



62 PARADISE LOST. 

Mustering their rage, and Heaven resembles Hell ! 

As he our darkness, cannot we his light 

Imitate when we please? This desert soil 2 ?° 

Wants not her hidden lustre, gems and gold ; 

Nor want we skill or art, from whence to raise 

Magnificence ; and what can Heaven show more ? 

Our torments also may in length of time 

Become our elements, these piercing fires 2 ?5 

As soft as now severe, our temper changed 

Into their temper ; which must needs remove 

The sensible of pain. All things invite 

To peaceful counsels, and the settled 'state 

Of order, how in safety best we may 28 ° 

Compose our present evils, with regard 

Of what we are and where, dismissing quite 

All thoughts of war. Ye have what I advise." 

He scarce had finished, when such murmur filled 
The assembly, as when hollow rocks retain 
The sound of blustering winds, which all night long 
Had roused the sea, now with hoarse cadence lull 

270-273. It was Mammon who "led them on " to find gold for their 
palace. 

275. our elements. Perhaps in allusion to the common belief in the 
middle ages that each of the four '" elements " was inhabited by its own 
peculiar demons, and that these demons were fallen spirits. See Par. 
Reg., ii. 121, etc. Cp the phrase, " He is in his element." 

278. sensible, sense. Cp. 97. 

281. compose, settle, arrange. 

229-283. Mammon's speech. 

(1 Does reconciliation with the Almighty seem possible in Mam- 
mon's case? 

(2) Note how the Almighty is assumed to be indifferent to what goes 
on outside Heaven — at least is supposed not to interfere. Butcp. 
317, etc. 

(3) What new arguments does Mammon introduce? 



PARADISE LOST. 63 

Seafaring men o'er-watched, whose bark by chance, 

Or pinnace, anchors in a craggy bay 

After the tempest : such applause was heard 2 9° 

As Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased, 

Advising peace ; for such another field 

They dreaded worse than Hell : so much the fear 

Of thunder and the sword of Michael 

Wrought still within them ; and no less desire 2 9S 

To found this nether empire, which might rise, 

By policy and long process of time, 

In emulation opposite to Heaven. 

Which when Beelzebub perceived, than whom, 

Satan except, none higher sat, with grave 3°o 

Aspect he rose, and in his rising seemed 

A pillar of state ; deep on his front engraven 

Deliberation sat, and public care ; 

And princely counsel in his face yet shone, 

Majestic though in ruin. Sage he stood, 305 

With Atlantean shoulders fit to bear 

The weight of mightiest monarchies : his look 

Drew audience and attention still as night 

288. o'er-watched, worn out through being awake or on watch so- 
long. 

289. pinnace, a smaller vessel than a bark, having oars and sails, or 
merely oars. 

291. sentence, opinion. 

296. nether, lower. Cp. Netherlands. (The comparative of neath.) 

298. " In aims and aspirations a rival power to Heaven." 

299. Beelzebub, Satan's " mate" and " compeer: " see Book i. 

306. Atlantean. Atlas was one of the Titans. He made war upon, 
the Gods, and as a punishment had to bear the heavens on his shoulders. 

308. audience, hearing. 



64 PARADISE LOST. 

Or summer's noontide air, while thus he spake : — 

Beelzebub's speeches : " Pea e, war, and the building up of an 
empire are a I out of the question; Heaven is shut 
against us; let us be revenged by spoiling hi; new 
creation." 

" Thrones and imperial Powers, Offspring of 
Heaven, 310 

Ethereal Virtues? or these titles now 
Must we renounce, and, changing style, be called 
Princes of Hell? for so the popular vote 
Inclines, here to continue, and build up here 
A growing empire ; doubtless, while we dream, 315 
And know not that the King of Heaven hath 

doomed 
This place our dungeon, not our safe retreat 
Beyond his potent arm, to live exempt 
From Heaven's high jurisdiction, in new league 
Banded against his throne, but to remain 320 

In strictest bondage, though thus far removed, 
Under the inevitable curb, reserved 
His captive multitude. For he, be sure, 
In highth or depth, still first and last will reign, 
Sole king, and of his kingdom lose no part 325 

By our revolt, but over Hell extend 
His empire, and with iron sceptre rule 
Us here, as with his golden those in Heaven. 

324 Cp. Rev., i. 11, " I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last " 

327-328. iron sceptre . . golden. For similar symbolism, cp. v. 886, 
887, " golden sceptre,"" iron rod"; and Lycidas, iio-in, where the 
golden key admits to heaven, the iron excludes. Cp. Psalm ii. 9. 



PARADISE LOST. 65 

What sit we then projecting peace and war? 

War hath determined us, and foiled with loss u° 

Irreparable ; terms of peace yet none 

Vouchsafed or sought ; for what peace will be given 

To us enslaved, but custody severe, 

And stripes, and arbitrary punishment 

Inflicted? and what peace can we return, 

But to our power, hostility and hate, 

Untamed reluctance, and revenge, though slow, 

Yet ever plotting how the conqueror least 

May reap his conquest, and may least rejoice 

In doing what we most in suffering feel ? 340 

Nor will occasion want, nor shall we need 

With dangerous expedition to invade 

Heaven, whose high walls fear no assault or siege, 

Or ambush from the Deep. What if we find 

Some easier enterprise ? There is a place 345 

(If ancient and prophetic fame in Heaven 

Err not), another world, the happy seat 

Of some new race called Man, about this time 

To be created like to us, though less 

In power and excellence, but favored more 

Of him who rules above ; so was his will 

Pronounced among the gods, and by an oath, 

330. determined, made an end of us as a power, been our ruin. 

336. to our power, to the extent of our power. 

337. Untamed reluctance, untamable resistance. 
341. want, opportunity be wanting. 

346. fame, report, rumor. 



66 PARADISE LOST. 

That shook Heaven's whole circumference, con- 
firmed. 
Thither let us bend all our thoughts, to learn 
What creatures there inhabit, of what mould, 355 
Or substance, how endued, and what their power, 
And where their weakness, how attempted best, 
By force or subtlety. Though Heaven be shut, 
And Heaven's high Arbitrator sit secure 
In his own strength, this place may lie exposed, 360 
The utmost border of his kingdom, left 
To their defence who hold it : here, perhaps, 
Some advantageous act may be achieved 
By sudden onset — either with Hell-fire 
To waste his whole creation, or possess 
All as our own, and drive, as we are driven, 
The puny inhabitants ; or, if not drive, 
Seduce them to our party, that their God 
May prove their foe, and with repenting hand 
Abolish his own works. This would surpass 
Common revenge, and interrupt his joy 
In our confusion, and our joy upraise 
In his disturbance ; when his darling sons, 
Hurled headlong to partake with us, shall curse 
Their frail original, and faded bliss, 375 

357. attempted, tempted, tried. 

367. puny, probably " less in power and excellence" (349) ; possibly, 
in literal sense, " later born "; (Fr puis ne). 

369-370. Cp. Genesis, vi. 7, " I will destroy man . . . ; it repenteth me 
.that 1 have made them." 

375. original, origin or originator, au.hor Adam). 



PARADISE LOST. 67 

Faded so soon ! Advise if this be worth 

Attempting, or to sit in darkness here 

Hatching vain empires." Thus Beelzebub 

Pleaded his devilish counsel, first devised 

By Satan, and in part proposed ; for whence, 380 

But from the author of all ill, could spring 

So deep a malice, to confound the race 

Of mankind in one root, and Earth with Hell 

To mingle and involve, done all to spite 

The great Creator? But their spite still serves 385 

His glory to augment. The bold design 

Pleased highly those infernal States, and joy 

Sparkled in all their eyes. With full assent 

They vote : whereat his speech he thus renews : — 

" This plan will raise us out 0/ Hell, procure us a pleasanter 
abode, and perhaps enable us to attack Heaven; but whom 
shall we send to explore this new World? " 

" Well have ye judged, well ended long debate, 39° 
Synod of gods, and, like to what ye are, 
Great things resolved, which from the lowest deep 
Will once more lift us up, in spite of fate, 
Nearer our ancient seat ; perhaps in view 
Of those bright confines, whence, with neighboring 
arms 395 

376. Advise, consider. 

379-380. See i. 650-654. 

382. confound, ruin. 

387. States, as in " three estates of the realm of Great Britain." 
Often so used by Shakespeare. 

391. Synod, an assembly, a council. 



6S PARADISE LOST. 

And opportune excursion, we may chance 

Re-enter Heaven ; or else in some mild zone 

Dwell not unvisited of Heaven's fair light, 

Secure, and at the brightening orient beam 

Purge off this gloom ; the soft delicious air, 400 

To heal the scar of these corrosive fires, 

Shall breathe her balm. But first, whom shall we 

send 
In search of this new world ? whom shall we find 
Sufficient? who shall tempt with wandering feet 
The dark, unbottomed, infinite Abyss. 405 

And through the palpable obscure find out 
His uncouth way, or spread his aery flight, 
Upborne with indefatigable wings 
Over the vast abrupt, ere he arrive 
The happy isle? What strength, what art, can 

then 410 

Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe 
Through the strict senteries, and stations thick 
Of Angels watching round ? Here he had need 
All circumspection, and we now no less 
Choice in our suffrage ; for on whom we send, 415 

396. excursion, sally. 

404. tempt, try, investigate, venture into. 

406. palpable obscure, thick darkness. C p. Exodus, x. 21, " dark- 
ness which may be felt " 

407. uncouth, unknown and strange. Cp. Scotch unco. 
409. the vast abrupt, the vast and steep gulf. 

412 senteries, perhaps a corruption of sentinel. Origin of word un- 



PARADISE LOST. 69 

The weight of all, and our last hope, relies." 

This said, he sat ; and expectation held 
His look suspense, awaiting who appeared 
To second, or oppose, or undertake 
The perilous attempt ; but all sat mute, 420 

Pondering the danger with deep thoughts, and each 
In other's countenance read his own dismay, 
Astonished. None among the choice and prime 
Of those Heaven-warring champions, could be 

found 
So hardy as to proffer or accept, 425 

Alone, the dreadful voyage ; till, at last, 
Satan, whom now transcendent glory raised 
Above his fellows, with monarchal pride 



310-378 and 3Q0-416. Beelzebub's speeches. 

3T5. Notice the rhetorical artifice by which Beelzebub using the first 
person appears to include himself among the vain dreamers, whose 
delu-ions he is exposing. He does this to avoid giving offence to Belial 
and Mammon. 

(1) He considers Hell to be their dungeon (317 ; hence, perhaps, his 
dislike oi the title " Princes of Hell." 

(2 Why is peace out of the question? 

It will be noticed that Satan takes no part in the debate; he resembles 
the chairman of a meeting, rather than a general presiding over a council 
of war After suiting his proposition in the briefest terms (H.37, 38 , he 
leaves it to tne Council to decide what shall be done. With respect to the 
other four speakers and their speeches, it may be helpful to the student to 
make a comparison, in tabular form, of the chief points; e. g. (a) the 
character of the spe ker: id) the style and tone of his speech; (c) his 
motive and aims ; ' d , his plan ; (e 1 any striking merit or defect in it ; etc. 
Thus if we take the first. Moloch, very briefly, we find that 1 a) he is 
strong, fierce and reckless (11. 43-50 ; b he is blunt, lacking in cour- 
tesy, and disparaging in referring to opponents (11. 51-54, and 73 1 ; c his 
motive is ambition to be equal to the Almighty and desire for revenge at 
any c 1st (11. 46, 47, and 105 ; (d < he has no plan — urges mere brute 
force; (e he assumes that punishment for the failure is out of the ques- 
tion, because 1 1 their lot is already as bad as possible (11. 92, 93), and 
(2) it will not improve (1. 89). 

418. suspense, in suspense. 

423. Astonished, filled with dismay, appalled at the daring sug. 
gestion. 



70 PARADISE LOST. 

Conscious of highest worth, unmoved thus spake : — 

Satan's second speech : " We may well pause; the undertaking 
is a perilous one, but I accept as great a share of hazard 
as of honor, and will make the attempt alone" 

" O Progeny of Heaven, empyreal Thrones ! «° 
With reason hath deep silence and demur 
Siezed us, though undismayed. Long is the way 
And hard, that out of Hell leads up to light; 
Our prison strong ; this huge convex of fire, 
Outrageous to devour, immures us round *3. c 

Ninefold, and gates of burning adamant, 
Barred over us, prohibit all egress. 
These passed, if any pass, the void profound 
Of unessential Night receives him next, 
Wide-gaping, and with utter loss of being 44c 

Threatens him, plunged in that abortive gulf. 
If thence he 'scape into whatever world 
Or unknown region, what remains him less 
Than unknown dangers, and as hard escape ? 
But I should ill become this throne, O Peers, 445 
And this imperial sovranty, adorned 
With splendor, armed with power, if aught proposed 
And judged of public moment, in the shape 
Of difficulty or danger, could deter 
Me from attempting. Wherefore do I assume 45° 



434. convex, vaulted roof; or perhaps the whole of Hell. (See Intro, 
fig. 2.) 

439. unessential, having no essence or being. 

441. abortive, producing nothing. Cp. 149, 150. 



PARADISE LOST. 7 1 

These royalties, and not refuse to reign, 

Refusing to accept as great a share 

Of hazard as of honor, due alike 

To him who reigns, and so much to him due 

Of hazard more, as he above the rest 455 

High honored sits? Go, therefore, mighty Powers, 

Terror of Heaven, though fallen ! intend at home, 

While here shall be our home, what best may ease 

The present misery, and render Hell 

More tolerable ; if there be cure or charm 

To respite, or deceive, or slack the pain 

Of this ill mansion : intermit no watch 

Against a wakeful foe, while I abroad 

Through all the coasts of dark destruction seek 

Deliverance for us all. This enterprise 46s 

None shall partake with me." 

The council over, the leaders issue forthwith Satan: their 
concord suggests to the poet the discord of men. 

Thus saying, rose 
The monarch, and prevented all reply , 
Prudent, lest, from his resolution raised, 
Others among the chief might offer now 
(Certain to be refused) what erst they feared; v° 
And, so refused, might in opinion stand 
His rivals, winning cheap the high repute, 

452. Refusing, if I refuse. 

457. intend, attend to this, consider. 

470. erst, at first, or before. 



72 PARADISE LOST. 

Which he, through hazard huge, must earn. But 

they 
Dreaded not more the adventure than his voice 
Forbidding ; and at once with him they rose. 4 ?s 
Their rising all at once was as the sound 
Of thunder heard remote. Towards him they bend 
With awful reverence prone ; and as a god 
Extol him equal to the Highest in Heaven : 
Nor failed they to express how much they praised 
That for the general safety he despised 481 

His own ; for neither do the spirits damned 
Lose all their virtue ; lest bad men should boast 
Their specious deeds on Earth, which glory excites, 
Or close ambition varnished o'er with zeal. 

Thus they their doubtful consultations dark 
Ended, rejoicing in their matchless chief. 
As when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds 
Ascending, while the North-wind sleeps, o'erspread 
Heaven's cheerful face, the louring element 490 

Scowls o'er the darkened landskip snow, or shower ; 
If chance the radiant sun with farewell sweet 
Extend his evening beam, the fields revive, 
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds 
Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings. 4 ^ 

O shame to men ! Devil with devil damned 
Firm concord holds ; men only disagree 
Of creatures rational, though under hope 
Of heavenly grace ; and, God proclaiming peace, 
Yet live in hatred, enmity, and strife 500 



PARADISE LOST. 73 

Among themselves, and levy cruel wars, 

Wasting the earth, each other to destroy : 

As if (which might induce us to accord) 

Man had not hellish foes enow besides, 

That day and night for his destruction wait \ s°b 

The Stygian council thus dissolved ; and forth 
In order came the grand infernal Peers : 
Midst came their mighty Paramount, and seemed 
Alone the antagonist of Heaven, nor less 
Than Hell's dread Emperor, with pomp supreme, 5*° 
And God-like imitated state. Him round 
A globe of fiery Seraphim enclosed, 
With bright emblazonry, and horrent arms. 
Then of their session ended they bid cry 
With trumpet's regal sound the great result. 515 

Towards the four winds four speedy Cherubim 
Put to their mouths the sounding alchymy, 
By herald's voice exclaimed ; the hollow Abyss 
Heard far and wide, and all the host of Hell 
With deafening shout returned them loud acclaim 520 

During Satan's absence the spirits pass the time in gam<s,iL'ild 
freaks, music, discussion, or exploration. 

Thence more at ease their minds, and somewhat 
raised 



504. enow, enough. 

513. horrent, bristling. 

517. alchymy, the art of mixing and transmuting metals, then the mix- 
ture so formed, especially a particular alloy much used in the trumpet: 
hence the trumpet itself. 



74 PARADISE LOST. 

By false presumptuous hope, the ranged powers 

Disband ; and, wandering, each his several way 

Pursues, as inclination or sad choice 

Leads him perplexed, where he may likeliest find 2 

Truce to his restless thoughts, and entertain 

The irksome hours, till his great chief return. 

Part on the plain or in the air sublime 

Upon the wing or in swift race contend, 

As at the Olympian games or Pythian fields ; 530 

Part curb their fiery steeds, or shun the goal 

With rapid wheels, or fronted brigads form : 

As when to warn proud cities, war appears 

Waged in the troubled sky, and armies rush 

To battle in the clouds ; before each van 535 

Prick forth the aery knights, and couch their spears, 

Till thickest legions close ; with feats of arms 

From either end of heaven the welkin burns. 

526. entertain, pass, while away. 
528. sublime, raised) aloft. 

530. The Olympian and Pythian games were national Greek festivals, 
the former held at Olympia every fifth year and lasting for five days; the 
latter at Delphi, in honor of Apollo. At Olympia foot-races were more 
numerous than horse races (note 11. 531, 532). The only prize given was 
a garland of wild olive The name and country state) of each competitor 
were announced by a herald. (The Olympian games have lately been 
revived 1896 , after a lapse of fifteen centuries.) 

531. shun the goal, — in turning. 

532. fronted, opposed. 
536. Prick, spur. 

couch, poise, balar.ee ready for throwing. 

533-538. Probably Milton is describing the appearance presented by 
masses of black cloud in a red sky, as often seen towards sunset. Some 
suggest the Aurora Borealis. In either case note the appropriateness of 
burns. Striking phenomena of this kind, meteors, etc., were formerly 
regarded as omens: hence warn 1. 533). Cp. 1. 597~599 n Note the 
peculiar use of " heaven " here — "the heavens," the sky, the upheaved 
part 



PARADISE LOST. 7 5 

Others, with vast Typhoean rage, more fell, 

Rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air 54° 

In whirlwind ; Hell scarce holds the wild uproar : 

As when Alcides, from CEchalia crowned 

With conquest, felt the envenomed robe, and tore 

Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines, 

And Lichasfrom the top of (Eta threw 545 

Into the Euboic sea. Others more mild, 

Retreated in a silent valley, sing 

With notes angelical to many a harp 

Their own heroic deeds, and hapless fall 

By doom of battle : and complain that Fate 550 

Free virtue should enthral to Force or Chance. 

Their song was partial ; but the harmony 

(What could it less when Spirits immortal sing?) 

Suspended Hell, and took with ravishment 

53Q. vast Typhcean rage. Typhon or Typhosus was a giant with a 
hundred heads. From, his mouflhs and eyes he darted fire, and he uttered 
horrid yells like the discordant shrieks of different animals. He made war 
upon the gods and frightened them away, but at la^tZeus put him to flight 
with his thunderbolts and burned him under Mount Etna 

542. Alcides, i.e. Hercules, — so called because he was the grandson of 
Alcseus, — on returning home from CEchalia a town in Thessaly) where 
he had slain Eurytus^ received (at the hands of his comp nion Lichas) a 
robe sent by his own wife, Deianira, who had previously dipped it in 
a potion of some kind, hoping thereby to regain his affection Tne potion 
proved poisonous Hercules in his rage hurled Lichas into the sea, then 
ascended Mount CEta (in Thessaly), built a large funeral pile and lay down 
upon it to be burnt. Jupiter, in admiration, took him up to heaven in a 
chariot. 

546. Euboic sea, east of Mount OZta, by the Island Euboea. 

547. Retreated: not the past tense, but the participle — remote, 
secluded. 

552. partial, /' c. in praise of their own deeds only, therefore contrasted 
with their music, which pleased everybody. 

554. Suspended, etc., held in suspense, made everyone pause from 
what he was doing. 



76 PARADISE LOST. 

The thronging audience. In discourse more sweet 555 

(For eloquence the soul, song charms the sense), 

Others apart sat on a hill retired, 

In thoughts more elevate, and reasoned high 

Of providence, foreknowledge, will and fate — 

Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute — 560 

And found no end, in wandering mazes lost. 

Of good and evil much they argued then, 

Of happiness and final misery, 

Passion and apathy, and glory and shame — 

Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy ! 565 

Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm 

Pain for a while, or anguish, and excite 

Fallacious hope, or arm the obdured breast 

With stubborn patience, as with triple steel. 

Another part, in squadrons and gross bands, 570 

On bold adventure to discover wide 

That dismal world, if any clime perhaps 

Might yield them easier habitation, bend 

Four ways their flying march, along the banks 

Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge 5 ? 5 

Into the burning lake their baleful streams — 

Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate ; 

Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep 



564. Passion and apathy. In the Stoic philosophy, passion {pathos) 
was any affection of the mind causing joy or grief; apathy, the mastery of 
.such feelings 

568. obdured, hardened 

576, etc. The names of the five rivers are from the classics; the mean- 
ing of each name is explained. It is Milton's own device to drain four of 
them into the lake. Note the contrast between Phlegeton and Lethe. 



PARADISE LOST. 77 

Cocytus, named of lamentation loud 

Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton, 580 

Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. 

Far off from these a slow and silent stream, 

Lethe, the river of oblivion rolls 

Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks 

Forthwith his former state and being forgets, 

Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain. 

Beyond this flood a frozen continent 

Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms 

Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land 

Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems 59° 

Of ancient pile ; all else deep snow and ice, 

A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog 

Betwixt Damiata and Mount Cassius old, 

Where armies whole have sunk : the parching air 

Burns frore, and cold performs the effect of fire. 595 

Thither, by harpy-footed Furies haled, 

At certain revolutions all the damned 

Are brought ; and feel by turns the bitter change 

581. torrent, scorching. 

584. watery labyrinth, winding stream. 

592-594. The lake or swamp Serbonis was a kind of lagoon east of 
Damiata Damietta), at the mouth of the Nile. Cassius was only a large 
sand-hill. The place was evidently a quicksand and is now dried up. 
Some Persian troops invading Egypt were lost here: but this is the only 
known instance of such disaster. 

595. frore, froren or frozen. 

596. The Furies were goddesses of vengeance : the Harpies winged 
monsters having the face of a woman and the body of a vulture, and feet 
armed with sharp claws. 

haled, hauled. 

597. revolutions (of time), the ends of certain periods. 



78 PARADISE LOS*. 

Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce, 

From beds of ra 6 ing fire to starve in ice 6o ° 

Their soft ethereal warmth, and there to pine 

Immovable, infixed, and frozen round 

Periods of time ; thence hurried back to fire. 

They ferry over this Lethean sound 

Both to and fro, their sorrow to augment, 6 °5 

And wish and struggle, as they pass to reach 

The tempting stream, with one small drop to lose 

In sweet forgetfulness all pain and woe, 

All in one moment, and so near the brink ; 

But Fate withstands, and to oppose the attempt, 6l ° 

Medusa with Gorgonian terror guards 

The ford, and of itself the water flies 

All taste of living wight, as once it fled 

The lip of Tantalus. Thus roving on 

In confused march forlorn, the adventurous bands, 6i s 

With shuddering horror pale, and eyes aghast, 

Viewed first their lamentable lot, and found 

No rest. Through may a dark and dreary vale 

They passed, and many a region dolorous, 



600. starve, cause to perish. Formerly to starve or sterve^ was 
simply to die " Christ sterved upon the cross," Chaucer ; now it means 
to die of hunger. 

611. Medusa was one of the Gorgons (628) — monsters having brazen 
claws and wings, and hissing serpents or snakes for hair — and her head 
was so terrible that to look at it caused death. 

613. wight, creature, person. 

614. Tantalus, a son of Zeus, divulged the secrets of the gods. For 
punishment he was afflicted with a raging thirst and placed in a lake, the 
waters of which receded when he tried to drink of them; and above his 
head there hung a cluster of grapes which always withdrew from his grasp. 

k Hence the word " tantalize." 



PARADISE LOST. t y 

O'er many a frozen, many a fiery Alp, 62 ° 

Rocks, caves, lakes, fens, bogs, dens, and shades of 

death — 
A universe of death, which God by curse 
Created evil, for evil only good ; 
Where all life dies, death lives and nature breeds 
Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things, 6 *s 
Abominable, inutterable, and worse 
Than fables yet have feigned, or fear conceived, 
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimaaras dire. 

Satan' 's journey; at Hell-gate, he meets with Sin and Death, 
its guardians. 

Meanwhile the Adversary of God and Man, 
Satan, with thoughts inflamed of highest design, 6 3° 
Puts on swift wings, and towards the gates of Hell 
Explores his solitary flight : sometimes 
He scours the right hand coast, sometimes the left ; 
Now shaves with level wing the deep ; then soars 
Up to the fiery concave, towering high. 6 35 

As when far off at sea a fleet descried 
Hangs in the clouds, by equinoctial winds 
Close sailing from Bengala, or the isles 

620. Alp, any high mountain. Gaelic alp, a mountain. 

628. Hydra. The Hydra of Lernse was a monster that ravaged the 
country about Argos, and was slain by Hercules. It had nine heads, and 
if one was cut off two others at once grew in its place Hercules, there- 
fore, obtained the help of Iolas, who, as soon as a head was cut off, applied 
a burning iron to the wound. 

Chimaera, a fire-breathing monster, a compound of lion, dragon, 
and goat. 

638. Close sailing, probably sailing close together, for protection. 
Bengala, Bengal. 



-8o PARADISE LOST. 

Of Ternate and Tidore, whence merchants bring 
Their spicy drugs ; they on the trading flood, 6 ^° 
Through the wide Ethiopian to the Cape, 
Ply stemming nightly toward the pole ; so seemed 
Far off the flying Fiend. At last appear 
Hell-bounds, high reaching to the horrid roof, 
And thrice threefold the gates ; three folds were 
brass, 6 ^ 

Three iron, three of adamantine rock, 
Impenetrable, impaled with circling fire, 
Yet unconsumed. Before the gates there sat 
On either side a formidable Shape. 
The one seemed woman to the waist, and fair, 6 5° 
But ended foul in many a scaly fold 
Voluminous and vast — a serpent armed 
With mortal sting. About her middle round 
A cry of Hell-hounds never-ceasing barked, 
With wide Cerberean mouths full loud, and rung 6 ss 
A hideous peal ; yet, when they list, would creep, 
If aught disturbed their noise, into her womb, 

639. Ternate and Tidore, two of the Moluccas, famous for spices. 

641. Ethiopian, Indian Ocean. 

642. nightly: the comparison is between Satan flying through the 
gloom of Hell towards its gate, and a fleet sailing by night towards the 
pole. For otner similes see i 192-210. 

647. impaled, inclosed. 

654. cry, pack; a term used in hunting. 

655 These hounds are compared to Cerberus, Pluto's many-headed 
dog that guarded the gate of the lower regions, preventing the living from 
entering and the dead from -escaping. Orpheus, when in search of 
Eurydice, charmed Cerberus with his music. 

656. list, please. 






PARADISE LOST. 8l 

And kennel there ; yet there still barked and 

howled 
Within unseen. Far less abhorred than these 
Vexed Scylla, bathing in the sea that parts 66 ° 

Calabria from the hoarse Trinacrian shore ; 
Nor uglier follow the night-hag, when, called 
In secret, riding through the air she comes, 
Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance 
With Lapland witches, while the laboring moon 66 s 
Eclipses at their charms. The other Shape — 
If shape it might be called that shape had none 
Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb ; 
Or substance might be called that shadow seemed, 
For each seemed either — black it stood as Night, 6 7° 

660. Scylla was a beautiful maiden who used to bathe in the strait. 
Circe, out of jealousy, threw poisonous herbs into the water and so 
caused her to assume a form something like that here attributed to Sin. 
According to the legend she was afterwards changed into the rocks which 
still bear her name. 

661. Calabria, east of the straits of Messina. 

Trinacria, Sicily, the north-east coast of which is steep and 
rocky — hence the epithet hoarse. 

662. the night-hag. probably Hecate, who was regarded in the middle 
ages as the queen of witches. Cp. Macbeth, iii. 5, 20, " I am for the 
air," etc. 

665. Lapland is the traditional home of witches. 

witches are said to have been specially addicted to killing infants. 
laboring, in Latin sense (laborare, to be eclipsed*. Witches 
were supposed to be able to draw down the moon and to eclipse it. 

648-673. Notice the skilful way in which Milton suggests rather than 
describes- these two "shapes," Sin and Death — the Tatter especially. 
Both are " formidable" and vast, vague, and indistinct, and repulsive in 
the extreme. Sin is, at first view, " fair" and attractive, but on a nearer 
view her appearance indicates the cold, pitiless, deadly power of the 
snake. The Hell-hounds are taken by Addison to symbolize " the terrors 
of an evil conscience." Death is appropriately depicted as fierce and 
aggressive, and at the same time more shadowy and intangible and so 
more difficult to combat We shall see that Sin is 'the offspring of Satan's 
pride, and Death the child of Sin. The allegory is evidently based on 
James i. 15. 



2>2 PARADISE LOST. 

Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as Hell, 
And shook a dreadful dart; what seemed his head 
The likeness of a kingly crown had on. 
Satan was now at hand, and from his seat 
The monster moving onward came as fast 6 75 

With horrid strides ; Hell trembled as he strode. 
The undaunted Fiend what this might be admired — 
Admired, not feared (God and his Son except, 
Created thing naught valued he nor shunned), 
And with disdainful look thus first began : 68 ° 

" Whence, and what art thou, execrable Shape, 
That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance 
Thy miscreated front athwart my way 
To yonder gates? Through them I mean to pass, 
That be assured, without leave asked of thee. 68 s 
Retire ; or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, 
Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heaven." 

To whom the Goblin, full of wrath, replied : — 
" Art thou that Traitor Angel, art thou he, 
Who first broke peace in Heaven and faith, till 
then 6 9° 

Unbroken, and in proud rebellious arms 
Drew after him the third part of Heaven's sons, 
Conjured against the Highest, for which both thou 
And they, outcast from God, are here condemned 
To waste eternal days in woe and pain ? 6 95 

And reckon'st thou thyself with Spirits of Heaven, 

677. admired, wondered, marvelled. 

678, 679. Compare Satan with Moloch. 
693. Conjured, banded together by oath. 






PARADISE LOST. 83 

Hell-doomed, and breath'st defiance here and scorn, 
Where I reign king, and, to enrage thee more, 
Thy king and lord? Back to thy punishment, 
False fugitive ; and to thy speed add wings, 700 

Lest with a whip of scorpions I pursue 
Thy lingering, or with one stroke of this dart 
Strange horror seize thee, and pangs unfelt before." 

The impending combat is prevented by Sin, who explains 
the situation. 

So spake the grisly Terror, and in shape, 
So speaking and so threatening, grew tenfold 705 
More dreadful and deform. On the other side, 
Incensed with indignation, Satan stood 
Unterrified, and like a comet burned, 
That fires the length of Ophiuchus huge 
In the arctic sky, and from his horrid hair 710 

Shakes pestilence and war. Each at the head 
Levelled his deadly aim ; their fatal hands 
No second stroke intend ; and such a frown 
Each cast at the other, as when two black clouds, 
With Heaven's artillery fraught, come rattling on 7*5 
Over the Caspian, then stand front to front 
Hovering a space, till winds the signal blow 
To join their dark encounter in mid air : 

701. whip, etc. Cp. I Kings, xii. n. 

709. Ophiuchus, the Serpent, a very large constellation in the northern 
hemisphere. 

715. fraught, laden, charged. 

716. the Caspian was supposed t,by the classical poets) to be specially 
subject to violent storms. 



84 PARADISE LOST. 

So frowned the mighty combatants, that Hell 
Grew darker at their frown ; so matched they 
stood ; 72 ° 

For never but once more was either like 
To meet so great a foe. And now great deeds 
Had been achieved, whereof all Hell had rung, 
Had not the snaky Sorceress, that sat 
Fast by Hell-gate, and kept the fatal key, 
Risen, and with hideous outcry rushed between. 

"O father, what intends thy hand," she cried, 
" Against thy only son ? What fury, O son, 
Possesses thee to bend that mortal dart 
Against thy father's head? and know'st for whom ; 730 
For him who sits above, and laughs the while 
At thee, ordained his drudge, to execute 
Whate'er his wrath, which he calls justice, bids — 
His wrath, which one day will destroy ye both ! " 

She spake, and at her words the hellish Pest 735 
Forebore ; then these to her Satan returned : — 

" So strange thy outcry, and thy words so strange 
Thou interposest that my sudden hand, 
Prevented, spares to tell thee yet by deeds 
What it intends, till first I know of thee 740 

What thing thou art, thus double-formed, and why, 
In this infernal vale first met, thou callest 
Me father, and that phantasm call'st my son. 
I know thee not, nor ever saw till now 
Sight more detestable than him and thee." 74S 

721. See / Corinthians, xv. 26, and Hebrews, ii. 14. 



PARADISE LOST. 85 

The refly of Sin to Satan. 
To whom thus the portress of Hell-gate replied : — 
« Hast thou forgot me then, and do I seem 
Now in thine eye so foul? — once deem'd so fair 
In Heaven, when at the assembly, and in sight 
Of all the Seraphim with thee combined 
In bold conspiracy against Heaven's King, 
All on a sudden miserable pain 
Surprised thee, dim thine eyes, and dizzy swum 
In darkness, while thy head flames thick and fast 
Threw forth ; till on the left side opening wide, 755 
Likest to thee in shape and countenance bright, 
Then shining Heavenly-fair, a goddess armed, 
Out of thy head I sprung. Amazement seized 
All the host of Heaven ; back they recoil'd afraid 
At first, and called me Sin, and for a sign 
Portentous held me ; but, familiar grown, 
I pleased, and with attractive graces won 
The most averse, thee chiefly, who full oft 
Thyself in me thy perfect image viewing, 
Becamest enamored and such joy thou took'st 765 
With me in secret, that my womb conceived 
A growing burden. Meanwhile war arose, 
And fields were fought in Heaven; wherein 

remained 
(For what could else?) to our almighty foe 
Clear victory, to our part loss and rout 
Through all the Empyrean. Down they fell, 

757, 758. This incident is based on the Greek legend of the birth of 
Minerva from the head of Jupiter. 



86 PARADISE LOST. 

Driven headlong from the pitch of Heaven, down 

Into this Deep, and in the general fall 

I also ; at which time this powerful key 

Into my hands was given, with charge to keep 775 

These gates for ever shut, which none can pass 

Without my opening. Pensive here I sat 

Alone ; but long I sat not, till my womb, 

Pregnant by thee, and now excessive grown, 

Prodigious motion felt, and rueful throes. 780 

At last this odious offspring whom thou seest, 

Thine own begotten, breaking violent way, 

Tore through my entrails, that, with fear and pain 

Distorted, all my nether shape thus grew 

Transformed ; but he, my inbred enemy, 

Forth issued, brandishing his fatal dart 

Made to destroy. I fled and cried out Death! 

Hell trembled at the hideous name, and sighed 

From all her caves, and back resounded Death! 

I fled ; but he pursued (though more, it seems, 790 

Inflamed with lust than rage) and, swifter far, 

Me overtook, his mother, all dismayed, 

And, in embraces forcible and foul 

Engendering with me, of that rape begot 

These yelling monsters, that with ceaseless cry 795 

Surround me, as thou saw'st, hourly conceived 

And hourly born, with sorrow infinite 

To me ; for when they list, into the womb 

That bred them they return, and howl and gnaw 

772. pitch, height. Pitch was a technical term for the height to 
which the falcon soared in order to swoop on the quarry. 






PARADISE LOST. 87 

My bowels, their repast ; then bursting forth 8o ° 

Afresh with conscious terrors vex me round, 

That rest or intermission none I find. 

Before mine eyes in opposition sits 

Grim Death, my son and foe, who sets them on, 

And me, his parent, would full soon devour 8o 5 

For want of other prey, but that he knows 

His end with mine involved, and knows that I 

Should prove a bitter morsel, and his bane, 

Whenever that shall be ; so fate pronounced. 

But thou, O father, I forewarn thee, shun 8l ° 

His deadly arrow ; neither vainly hope 

To be invulnerable in those bright arms, 

Though tempered heavenly; for that mortal dint, 

Save he who reigns above, none can resist." 

Satan appears friendly an el explains his errand. 

She finished; and the subtle Fiend his lore 8l s 
Soon learned, now milder, and thus answered 

smooth : — 
" Dear daughter — since thou claim'st me for thy 

sire, 
And my fair son here show'st me, the dear pledge 
Of dalliance had with thee in Heaven, and joys 
Then sweet, now sad to mention, through dire 

change 82 ° 

Befallen us unforseen, unthought of — know, 
I come no enemy, but to set free 

813 tempered heavenly, wrought in heaven. 

dint, blow. 
815. lore, lesson. 



88 PARADISE LOST. 

From out this dark and dismal house of pain 

Both him and thee, and all the Heavenly host 

Of Spirits, that, in our just pretences armed, S2 s 

Fell with us from on high. From them I go 

This uncouth errand sole, and one for all 

Myself expose, with lonely steps to tread 

The unfounded deep, and through the void immense 

To search with wandering quest a place foretold 8 3° 

Should be, and, by concurring signs, ere now 

Created vast and round, a place of bliss 

In the purlieus of Heaven, and therein placed 

A race of upstart creatures, to supply 

Perhaps our vacant room, though more removed, 8 35 

Lest Heaven, surcharged with potent multitude, 

Might hap to move new broils. Be this, or aught 

Than this more secret now designed, I haste 

To know; and, this once known, shall soon return, 

And bring ye to the place where thou and Death 8 4° 

Shall dwell at ease, and up and down unseen 

Wing silently the buxom air, embalmed 

With odor ; ; there ye shall be fed and filled 

Immeasurably; all things shall be your prey." 

Sin explains her position, atid unlocks the gate, but cannot 
shut it. 

He ceased, for both seemed highly pleased, and 
Death 845 

Grinned horrible a ghastly smile to hear 

825. pretences, claims. 

827. uncouth, as in 407, unknown and strange. 

829. unfounded, bottomless. 

833. purlieus, outskirts. " The utmost border." 

842. buxom, elastic, yielding. 






PARADISE LOST. 89 

His famine should be filled, and blessed his maw 
Destined to that good hour. No less rejoiced 
His mother bad, and thus bespake her sire : — 

" The key of this infernal pit, by due 8 s° 

And by command of Heaven's all-powerful King, 
I keep, by him forbidden to unlock 
These adamantine gates ; against all force 
Death ready stands to interpose his dart, 
Fearless to be o'ermatched by living might. 8 55 

But what owe I to his commands above 
Who hates me and has hither thrust me down 
Into this gloom of Tartarus profound, 
To sit in hateful office here confined, 
Inhabitant of Heaven, and Heavenly-born, 86 ° 

Here in perpetual agony and pain, 
With terrors and with clamors compassed round 
Of mine own brood, that on my bowels feed ? 
Thou art my father, thou my author, thou 
My being gav'st me ; whom should I obey 86s 

But thee? whom follow? Thou wilt bring me soon 
To that new world of light and bliss, among 
The gods who live at ease, where I shall reign 
At thy right hand votuptuous, as beseems 
Thy daughter and thy darling, without end." 8 7° 

Thus saying, from her side the fatal key, 
Sad instrument of all our woe, she took ; 
And, towards the gate rolling her bestial train, 
Forthwith the huge portcullis high up-drew, 

874. portcullis, a massive, harrow-like, iron gate, working up and 
down in grooves. 



QO PARADISE LOST. 

Which, but herself, not all the Stygean powers R ?5 

Could once have moved ; then in the key-hole turns 

The intricate wards, and every bolt and bar 

Of massy iron or solid rock with ease 

Unfastens. On a sudden open fly, 

With impetuous recoil and jarring sound, 

The infernal doors, and on their hinges grate 

Harsh thunder, that the lowest bottom shook 

Of Erebus. She opened, but to shut 

Excelled her power : the gates wide open stood, 

That with extended wings a bannered host, 

Under spread ensigns marching, might pass through 

With horse and chariots ranked in loose array ; 

So wide they stood, and like a furnace-mouth, 

Cast forth redounding smoke and ruddy flame. 

Satan passes out and travels on through Chaos till he 
co?7ies to the "pavilion" of its riders. 

Before their eyes in sudden view appear 8 9° 

The secrets ot the hoary Deep — a dark 
Illimitable ocean, without bound, 
Without dimension ; where length, breadth, and 

highth, 
And time, and place, are lost ; where eldest Night 
And Chaos, ancestors of Nature, hold 

883. Erebus, another classical name for Hell. 

885. wings. Cp. i. 616, 617. 

889. redounding, rolling back, like waves, " surging." (928.) 

895. Nature, that part of the Universe which is f ormed or created 
as opposed to Chaos. 



PARADISE LOST. 9 1 

Eternal anarchy, amidst the noise 

Of endless wars, and by confusion stand. 

For Hot, Cold, Moist, and Dry, four champions 

fierce, 
Strive here for mastery, and to battle bring 
Their embryon atoms ; they around the flag v°° 

Of each his faction, in their several clans, 
Light-armed or heavy, sharp, smooth, swift, or slow, 
Swarm populous, unnumbered as the sands 
Of Barca, or Cyrene's torrid soil, 
Levied to side with warring winds, and poise 9°5 
Their lighter wings. To whom these most adhere 
He rules a moment ; Chaos umpire sits, 
And by decision more embroils the fray 
By which he reigns ; next him, high arbiter, 
Chance governs all. Into this wild Abyss, 9 IQ 

900. embryon, germ, germ-like. 

904. Barca and Cyrene are two cities in N. Africa. 

905. Levied, perhaps in double sense of to levy troops and Fr. lever, 
to raise; refers, of course, to sands. 

906. Their, i e , the winds. 
910. Cp. Shakespeare — 

" The earth that's nature's mother is h?r tomb." 
895-913. This description of Chaos is based upon the philosophy of 
Heraclitus c. 500 B. C. and Democritus {c. 400 B. C. . The latter 
assumed, as the basis of nature, an infinitude of indivisible particles or 
atoms, varying in size, shape, and weight, but all of the same quality. 
These atoms, floating about in empty space, impinged on one another, 
and, being of various sizes and weights, moved at different rates 002). 
Amidst this confusion and whirl, this " concourse of atoms," certain forces 
or tendencies prevailed, according to which the atoms formed themselves 
into groups, giving us "things" nature. But these "things" again 
break up in course of time into their original atoms (911 . The ground, 
or final cause, of this process (Chaos; was Necessity or Fate, or as 
Democritus called it, Chance (" high arbiter," 909, 910 . Heraclitus 
regarded all growth and creation as due to the harmonious action of 
hostile principles. " Strife is the father of all things," said he: hence the 
description under the form of a battle. The tendencies mentioned above 
to take the forms of earth, air, etc. (898 and 912 , were suggested by 
Empedocles (c. 444 B. C), and accepted till modern times. 



92 PARADISE LOST. 

The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave, 

Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire, 

But all these in their pregnant causes mixed 

Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight, 

Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain 9 J 5 

His dark materials to create more worlds — 

Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend 

Stood on the brink of Hell and looked awhile, 

Pondering his voyage : for no narrow frith 

He had to cross. Nor was his ear less pealed 9 2 ° 

With noises loud and ruinous (to compare 

Great things with small), than when Bellona storms, 

With all her battering engines, bent to rase 

Some capital city ; or less than if this frame 

Of Heaven were falling, and these elements 9 2 5 

In mutiny had from her axle torn 

The steadfast Earth. At last his sail-broad vans 

He spreads for flight, and, in the surging smoke 

Uplifted, spurns the ground ; thence many a league 

As in a cloudy chair, ascending rides 93° 

Audacious ; but, that seat soon failing, meets 

A vast vacuity. All unawares, 

Fluttering his pennons vain, plumb-down he drops 

912, 913. " Water, earth, air, and fire were not yet formed, but their 
component atoms were there in readiness for creation." 

920. pealed, stunned, dinned Cp. " the pealing organ." 

921. ruinous, crashing as of a building falling . 

922. Bellona, the goddess of war. 

927. vans, wings; also used in its other form, fan. 
933. pennons, pinions, wings. 



PARADISE LOST. 93 

Ten thousand fathom deep, and to this hour 

Down had been falling, had not, by ill chance, 935 

The strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud, 

Instinct with fire and nitre, hurried him 

As many miles aloft. That fury stayed — 

Quenched in a boggy Syrtis, neither sea, 

Nor good dry land — nigh foundered, on he fares, 940 

Treading the crude consistence, half on foot, 

Half-flying ; behoves him now both oar and sail. 

As when a gryphon through the wilderness 

With winged course, o'er hill or moory dale 

Pursues the Arimaspian, who by stealth 945 

Had from his wakeful custody purloined 

The guarded gold ; so eagerly the Fiend 

O'er bog, or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or 

rare, 
With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, 
And swims, or sinks, or wades, or creeps, or flies. 950 
At length a universal hubbub wild 
Of stunning sounds and voices all confused, 

936. rebuff, in its literal sense, a sudden beating back. 

937. nitre, the chief of the three constituents of gunpowder; here used 
for gunpowder itself. 

939. Syrtis — a quicksand. (Syrtis, a dangerous quicksand gulf on 
north coast of Africa.; 

940. foundered, sent to the bottom, sunk. (Distinguish from wrecked.) 
Cp 1. 204. 

942 behoves him, it is necessary for him to use, etc. Cp. " It behoved 
Chnst to suffer," Luke, xxiv. 46. 

943-947. gryphon, or griffin, a monster, part eagle, part lion, " a kind 
of wild beasts that fly." According to stories in Herodotus and Pliny, 
there were uold-mines in the north of Europe which the griffins visited or 
worked The Arimaspi were a one-eyed race who tried to steal the 
griffin's gold. 



94 PARADISE LOST. 

Borne through the hollow dark, assaults his ear 

With loudest vehemence. Thither he plies, 

Undaunted to meet there whatever Power 955 

Or Spirit of the nethermost Abyss 

Might in that noise reside, of whom to ask 

Which way the nearest coast of darkness lies 

Bordering on light; when straight behold the throne 

Of Chaos, and his dark pavilion spread s 6 ° 

Wide on the wasteful Deep. With him enthroned 

Sat sable-vested Night, eldest of things, 

The consort of his reign ; and by them stood 

Orcus and Ades, and the dreaded name 

Of Demogorgon ; Rumor next and Chance, 965 

And Tumult and Confusion all embroiled, 

And Discord with a thousand various mouths. 

Satan inquires his way, again promising recompense ; hears 
from Chaos of the newly created World, and at last comes 
within sight of it. 

To whom Satan, turning boldly, thus: — "Ye 
Powers 
And Spirits of this nethermost Abyss, 
Chaos and ancient Night, I come no spy, 97° 

With purpose to explore or to disturb 
The secrets of your realm ; but, by constraint 
Wandering this darksome desert, as my way 
Lies through your spacious empire up to light, 

961. wasteful, full of empty wastes. 

964. Orcus and Ades (or Hades , other names of Pluto, or of his 
realm. 

965. Demogorgon, a dreaded name of a still more dreaded and myster- 
ious " master ot the fates," " lord of Chaos," etc. 



PARADISE LOST. 95 

Alone and without guide, half lost, I seek, 975 

What readiest path leads where your gloomy bounds 

Confine with Heaven ; or if some other place, 

From your dominion won, the Ethereal King 

Possesses lately, thither to arrive 

I travel this profound. Direct my course : 9 8 ° 

Directed, no mean recompense it brings 

To your behoof, if I that region lost, 

All usurpation thence expelled, reduce 

To her original darkness and your sway 

(Which is my present journey), and once more 985 

Erect the standard there of ancient Night. 

Yours be the advantage all, mine the revenge ! " 

Thus Satan ; and him thus the Anarch old, 
With faltering speech and visage incomposed, 
Answered : — "I know thee, stranger, who thou 
art — 990 

That mighty leading Angel, who of late 
Made head against Heaven's King, though over- 
thrown. 
I saw and heard ; for such a numerous host 
Fled not in silence through the frighted Deep, 
With ruin upon ruin, rout on rout, 995 

Confusion worse confounded ; and Heaven-gates 
Poured out by millions her victorious bands 
Pursuing. I upon my frontiers here 

977. Confine with, border on. 

985. journey, quest, purpose. 

989. incomposed, disordered or disturbed (?). Not elsewhere used by 
Milton. 



g6 PARADISE LOST. 

Keep residence ; if all I can will serve 
That little which is left so to defend, IOO ° 

Encroached on still through our intestine broils, 
Weakening the sceptre of old Night : first Hell, 
Your dungeon, stretching far and wide beneath ; 
Now lately Heaven and Earth, another world 
Hung o'er my realm, linked in a golden chain IO °5 
To that side Heaven from whence your legions fell. 
If that way be your walk, you have not far ; 
So much the nearer danger. Go, and speed ! 
Havoc, and spoil, and ruin, are my gain." 

He ceased : and Satan stayed not to reply, IOI ° 
But, glad that now his sea should find a shore, 
With fresh alacrity and force renewed 
Springs upward, like a pyramid of fire, 
Into the wild expanse, and through the shock 
Of fighting elements, on all sides round IOI 5 

Environed, wins his way : harder beset 
And more endangered than when Argo passed 
Through Bosporus betwixt the justling rocks ; 
Or when Ulysses on the larboard shunned 
Charybdis, and by the other whirlpool steered : io2 ° 

1004. Heaven and Earth (like the heavens and the earth " in Genesis, 
j.) — the World not the Empyrean, which was before Hell) . 

1017-1020. Argo, the ship in which Jason and the fifty Argonauts went 
in quest of the golden fleece. The justling rocks were in the Straits of 
Constantinople, and used to clash together when anything attempted to 
pass between them. Jason was advised to send on a dove, and the rocks 
closed; but the Argo was ready to pass through as they recoiled, and so 
managed to get clear in time. 

Scylla and Charybdis, two rocks in the Strait of Messina. The 
passage between them is narrow, and rendered dangerous by currents and 
whirlpools. Thus in avoiding one peril there is risk of running into 
another. 

1019. larboard, left-hand side; now port. 



PARADISE LOST. 97 

So he with difficulty and labor hard 
Moved on. With difficulty and labor he ; 
But, he once passed, soon after, when Man fell, 
Strange alteration ! Sin and Death amain, 
Following his track (such was the will of Heaven) I02 5 
Paved after him a broad and beaten way 
Over the dark Abyss, whose boiling gulf 
Tamely endured a bridge of wondrous length, 
From Hell continued, reaching the utmost orb 
Of this frail World ; by which the Spirits perverse 
With easy intercourse pass to and fro IQ 3i 

To tempt or punish mortals, except whom 
God and good Angels guard by special grace. 

But now at last the sacred influence 
Of light appears, and from the walls of Heaven io 35 
Shoots far into the bosom of dim Night 
A glimmering dawn. Here Nature first begins 
Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire, 
As from her outmost works, a broken foe, 
With tumult less, and with less hostile din ; IQ 4° 

That Satan with less toil, and now with ease, 
Wafts on the calmer wave by dubious light, 
And, like a weather-beaten vessel, holds 
Gladly the port, though shrouds and tackle torn ; 
Or, in the emptier waste, resembling air, 

1028. The bridge is described in Book x. 293-321. 

1029. utmost orb, outmost sphere: see hitro. 
1034. influence, in literal sense, an in-flowing, a stream. 
1039. works, in the military sense. 
1043. holds, makes for. 



io45 



98 PARADISE LOST. 

Weighs his spread wings, at leisure to behold 
Far off the Empyreal Heaven, extended wide 
In circuit, undetermined square or round, 
With opal towers and battlements adorned 
Of living sapphire, once his native seat ; 
And fast by, hanging in a golden chain 
This pendent world, in bigness as a star 
Of smallest magnitude close by the moon. 
Thither, full fraught with mischievous revenge, 
Accursed, and in a cursed hour, he hies. 

1046. Weighs, poises, balances evenly. 

I049, 1050. Of living sapphire goes with " battlements." 



PARADTSE LOST. 99 

TABLE OF DEITIES MENTIONED IN LL. 392-521. 



Lines 


Deities 


By Whom 
Worshipped. 


Character. 


Scripture 
References. 


392- 


Moloch. 


1 The Ammon- 


A fire or sun god; sup- 


Lev. xviii. 


4°5 




ites. 


posed to be able to 


21. 






2) The Jews at 


ward off the destruc- 


Ps. cvi. 






Jerusalem. 


tive heat of the sun. 


T 37,38. 
Jer. vii. 31. 


406- 


Chemos. 


(i)TheMoabites 


Like Moloch. 


2 Ki. iii 27: 


418 




and Seon* their 
invader. 

The places 
mentioned in 
407-11 all lie 
east of the Dead 
Sea, between 
Mt. Nebo in the 
north and R 
Arnon in the 
south. 

(2 The Jews at 
the hill Peor 
(hence the 
plaguef) and at 
Jerusalem. 




andxxili.13. 
*Num. xxi. 

26. 

|Num. xxv. 

2, 3, 9- 












Baalim 


(1) The various 


These were national 


1 Kings xi. 


446 


and 


Phoenician and 


and other forms of 


5- 




ASHTEROTH. 


Canaanitish na- 
tions from north 
Euphrates to 
south brook 
Besor) . 

(21 The Jews at 
Jerusalem. 


Moloch. 


Judg. 11. 13. 
Gen. xv. 18. 


446- 


Thammuz. 


The Syrians, 


A legendary Phoenic- 


\ Ezek. viii. 


457 




Jews, J Egyp- 
tians, etc. 


ian prince killed by 
a boar near the river 
Adonis in Lebanon. 
The coloring of the 
stream in the spring 
floods gave rise to the 
legend of his " annual 
wound." 


14. 



Lore. 



IOO 



PARADISE LOST. 
TABLE OF DEITIES — Continued. 



Lines. 


Deities. 


By Whom 
Worshipped. 


Character. 


Scripture 
References. 


457~ 


Dagon. 


The Philistines 


Fish (?) and corn god . 


For the allusion 


466 




I Azot»s = 


Had the face and 


see 1 Sam. v. x : 






Ashdod; Ac- 


hands of a man, and 


'' Dagon was 






caron = Ek- 


the tail of a fish. 


fallen t :> the 






ron). 




ground . . and 
the head and 
the palms were 
cut off upon 
the threshold." 


467- 


Rimmon. 


The Syrians (at 




Naaman, a Syr- 


476 




Damascus. 




ian leper, when 
cured by Fli- 
sha, forsook 
Rimmon 2 Ki. 
v. '. Later, 
Ahaz, king of 
Judah, set up 
a Syrian altar 
(2 Kings xvi.) 


476- 


Osiris, 


The Egyp- 


Osiris ("the Good") , 




489 


Isis and 
Orus. 


tians. 


/sis, his consort, and 
Orus, their son. 
Osiris has another 
son, Typhon 
("evil"), with whom 
he is ever in conflict, 
but, through the help 
of Isis and Orus, is 
never overcome- 
Osiris was wor- 
shipped under the 
form of a bull 
(Apis); Isis, of a 
woman with cow's 
horns. 




490- 
505 


[Belial 
(Hebrew, 
wickedness, 
worthless- 
ness), not 
a god, but 
a personifi- 
cation of 
evil.] 




Whereas the deities 
are identified with 
open, acknowledged 
wickedness, " Be- 
lial " is used by Mil- 
ton to symbolize the 
evil that is secret, 
or disguised under 
the cloak of religion, 
wealth or rank. 





PARADISE LOST. 
TABLE OF DEITIES — Continued. 



Lines 



5 of- 
5-' i 



Deities. 



The Ionian (or Grecian 

deities, sprung from 

L'ranus and Ge ( iq8 

11.), Heaven and Earth 

I 



Kronos or ) and ten 

Saturn J other 
and Rhea ) Titans 

Jove. 



The Giants 



By Whom 
Worshipped. 



The Greeks 
l " Javan's 
sue " — 
Crete, < 
Olympus, 
Delphi and 
Dodona, etc. 
— Romans, 
Gauls and 
Celts. 



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